


A Demon's Black Fire

by Rooks_Fanfiction



Category: Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: Anti-Hero, Background Robin/Starfire, Demonology, F/F, Royalty, accidental bond
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-25
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-03-23 19:52:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,397
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13795074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rooks_Fanfiction/pseuds/Rooks_Fanfiction
Summary: Tamaranean, An alien species capable of learning languages with a magic infused kiss. Mate bond, a bond a demon forms with its mate through a magic infused kiss. Evis Delvroc Ciz Tamaran, A book written in the demon tongue which Blackfire just acquired. What could possibly go wrong?





	1. Chapter 1

Blackfire finished decelerating and began to drift towards earth. She didn't trust the stealth field generator she had stolen three systems ago to be able to get her past the Watchtower's sensors if she was moving any faster. At this speed, she believed it had a decent chance, and even if it failed it, she would probably be written off a sensor ghost or a small asteroid that would burn up in the atmosphere.

A small grin played across her face, "Flight without the heat signatures of starship engines truly does come in useful."

The thought briefly amused her. Once she had fully understood the advantages her species had, it had almost surprised her that so few Tamaranean's took up smuggling as a career. Then again, few of her people were truly suited to stealth.

"My people." She quickly shied away from the thought, the anger that it and similar thoughts would bring could all to easily shatter her meditative state. Staying in the meditative state was fairly important, in it her thoughts took minutes to proses rather than seconds and at the speed she was moving, it would take quite some time to reach earth. Determined to keep her mind of that particular painful subject, she let her thoughts drift over her recent past and her plans she had made.

She had been in a used bookstore in a space station in the Epsilon Eridani system, pursuing one of her hobbies. She often spent the time between her self-imposed missions by jumping to truly distant star systems, ones that would have almost no contact with the civilizations near Tamaran. She was fairly sure that for six different species, she had been the first alien they had ever encountered. As a result, she suspected she not only knew more languages than any other Tamaranean, she probably held the position by a wide margin.

It was this fact that had led to her hobby, looking through the small sections that most bookstores in space stations had, which contained books in languages the store owner didn't expect anyone to be able to read. While most of them were basically trash paperbacks that sailors a long way from home had pawned off, there were a couple of things she always hoped to come across. The first, and the more common of the two at this point, were travelogues. She always found the perspective of races alien to her, on other races just as alien, absolutely fascinating. Besides travelogues, she also looked for books even she couldn't read. A book in a book in an unknown language and a talk to the proprietor would often lead her to a species she had not yet encountered.

It was while looking through such a section that she had found the book that had started her on her present journey, Evis Delvroc Ciz Tamaran. While she had not been able to understand the language, she had recognized it, the demon tongue. What truly fascinated her was the mention of Tamaran in the title. Centuries ago, Tamaran had been subjected to a demon incursion. With the sacrifice of a staggering number of Tamaranean warriors, a strike team had broken through the demons and destroyed the portal before it could be fully stabilized. Many demons had already crossed over, however, and a good portion of one continent had had little more than ash left on it when the fighting was over. A book written from the demon's perspective would be truly fascinating, it might even provide clues to the fate of several treasures that had vanished during the war.

The only problem was that she didn't know any sorcerers she truly trusted, and it would take total trust to stand in a demon summing circle while a sorcerer summoned a demon. It was then that she remembered Raven, her sister's friend was a half-demon of some sort which meant she would know the demon tongue, and visiting earth would give her the chance to tease her sister a little. With that settled in her mind, she had bought the book and begun her journey to earth.

While she had flown to the edge of the solar influence and jumped to the Sol system, she had thought about what she would do while she was on earth. She vaguely remembered that Raven was responsible for the overnight patrol, she would wait for the opportunity to snag a kiss from the half-demon then try and convince her to keep quiet about her presence for the rest of the night. With her main objective accomplished she would be able to enjoy herself a little bit. She snorted mentally, "Well enjoy myself some more," she corrected, "After all, no plan that requires kissing a cute girl could truly be unpleasant."

A smile had crossed her face as she had imagined what she would do with the rest of the night. First, she would sneak into the tower and drug the boy wonder, she had one sedative that should work on humans with only mild side effects. A moments consideration made her amend that last part, "No truly severe side effects, or at least none my sister will mind." Somehow, she doubted Starfire would have any problem with Robin growing a pair of cat ears.

Once Robin was out for the count, she would slip into her sister's room and put a bowl of Ghorvalik in the air vent. When they were children on Tamaran, the servants had always brought a bowl of Ghorvalik for them when they had come to wake them up. The smell would conjure up happy memories, while she was sure Starfire wouldn't know where the happiness was coming from, she was equally sure her sister would be unable to resist sharing that happiness. After that, it would only be a matter of time before Starfire arrived at Robin's door baring food.

A grin spread from ear to ear as she imagined the expression on her sister's face when the door opened, and she saw Robin asleep and curled around her. She wondered if she would have time to get in a quip or two while her sister was stunned, or whether there would be instant violence. After a moment though she decided it would probably be best to only remove Robin's shirt, and stay fully dressed herself, while angling the blankets to give the impression they were both naked. After all, she didn't want to actually destroy her sister's relationship, and having to fly out of the tower naked wouldn't be any fun either. It was the fact the teasing Starfire this way had repeatedly proved so effective that had prevented her from ever mentioning her actual proclivities to her sister.

As those final thoughts drifted through her head, Blackfire felt herself hit Earth's atmosphere. The sensation snapped her back to full awareness, and she began to aim her decent. She came down in a forest near the outskirts of Jump City and took stock. It was still quite some time before sunset, and she was hungry. A plan for what she would do with the rest of the day formed in her head, and she started to grin once again. Fishing through her extradimensional pack, she finally found a fairly skimpy outfit that would not look out of place on earth. She quickly changed and stuffed the clothes she had been wearing into her pack before flying into the city.

It barely took fifteen minutes of wandering through the alleys of the seediest part of Jump for her plan to reach fruition, two shabbily dressed men stepped out in front of her. The sheer crudity of their words would have shocked her, if it had not been for the fact that, language notwithstanding, she had heard almost the exact same thing countless times before in very similar situations.

"No thank you." She replied politely and felt the satisfaction of a plan falling into place when one of them swore at her and tried to grab her arm. The ensuing fight was an utter disappointment, she was used to thugs who knew their victim might well have an energy weapon of some sort and who had therefore trained enough to disable them before they could use it. These men, on the other hand, hadn't seemed to have any skill whatsoever and the fight had been over within a few seconds. Considering how much joy she took from a good fight, this truly was a disappointment.

She knelt down and started rifling through the first man's pockets. "Useless, useless, useless, ah, keys."

While the keys were useless to her too, she did take a certain pleasure in tossing them down a nearby drain. Finding his wallet, she removed all the cash from it, then picked a few of the plastic cards at random and broke them in half before the tossing the wallet back to the thug. She repeated the proses with the other thug, then began to walk down the alley. Before she had taken five steps, she turned back around and gave both men a sharp kick to the crotch. Feeling fairly certain neither man would be up to bothering any women for quite some time, she began to make her way to a nicer part of the city.

She smiled as she found a restaurant that had tables on the roof. Looking over their menu, she blinked in surprise as she found something that actually sounded edible, a Pizza that came topped with pickles, bananas, and mint frosting. Once she had ordered, she found a seat on the roof and let the evening sunlight begin to recharge her. The pleasure she felt at actually finding good food and a place to take in sunlight only intensified when the server actually set down a bottle of mustard beside the pizza.

* * *

 

Raven wandered through the moonlit streets, while she flew over the rooftops and looked down at the streets some of the time, she walked through them almost as often. She firmly believed that unpredictability was a trait to be cultivated. Her unpredictable movements meant that not only would it be harder for criminals to determine where it would be safe for them to commit crimes, it also made any ambushes next to impossible. She didn't pay much attention to what was going on around her, she rarely did after all, simply feeling around her with her empathy. She tasted the emotions around her, looking for any of the groups of emotions that would mean danger for her, or that a crime was likely being committed. Being able to find crime without actually needing to use her eyes, combined with actually having the best night vision in the team, she supposed it was reasonable that she had ended up with the night patrol.

"Not that I mind this arrangement," she thought to herself, "It allows me to stay out of the tower at night. With Starfire visiting Robin's room before her own almost every night, Cyborg bringing Bumblebee over every chance he gets and Beastboy bringing one girl or another to his room most nights, staying out of the tower at night is definitely the way to go."

"Jealous? If you would just look for someone," Love began in a hopeful tone.

"No." Raven cut her off firmly

"You know it's utterly twisted that you get you happiness from tormenting Love and me." Happy commented

"You should know be able to tell that I don't actually find happiness in depriving you, It's just"

"That you're lonely? That's for certain."

"No Love, It's just"

This time it wasn't one of her Emoticlones that interrupted her thoughts, it was a pair of arms wrapping around her from behind. Her head snapped around, just in time for her lips to meet those of the person who grabbed her.

* * *

 

Blackfire smiled contentedly as she saw Raven walking down the road, while teasing her sister was going to be fun, so was this. Raven had always been her favorite of her sister's little group of overly noble friends. She felt happy and slightly excited as her arms wrapped around the robbed girl from behind. As Raven's head snapped around, she pressed hers forward and down, kissing the sorceress. As their lips met Blackfire felt the magic that would allow her to learn the languages the other woman knew fill her lips and begin to pass into the half-demon. Suddenly magic flooded back into her, she could feel it surging through every particle of her being and soaking into her. She tried to break the kiss but her body seemed to be frozen in place. From the fact Raven didn't break the kiss, despite the horrified look in her eyes, she assumed the other woman was equally paralyzed.

She had no idea how long she stood there, unable to move, but eventually the magic surging through her calmed somewhat. She could tell it was still doing something, but it had calmed enough to allow her to move and speak. She quickly took a couple of steps back then asked in a voice as steady as she could make it.

"What in X'hal's name just happened?"

Raven stared at her, and Blackfire suddenly realized she could actually feel the flatness of the other woman's emotions. In shock, Blackfire focused on this new sense. While the surface of Raven's emotions felt calm, it also felt like further down a literal battle was taking place in the other woman's head.

After a moment of silence, Raven replied in a flat voice. "As I believe you know, I am a half-demon. Once a demon reaches maturity, it can form a mate bond, this is accomplished by sharing a magically infused kiss. When I fully matured, I warned your sister that if she ever kissed me, it would mean she could never be with Robin again. When I deal with other magical creatures, I place wards on my lips so even if a kiss does occur, a mate bonding won't. I thought I had taken enough precautions, it seems I was wrong."

Blackfire breathed deeply. A couple of times when she was looking through the books no one was expected to be able to read, she had come across ones written in English. Curious about what her sister saw in the world she had picked to live on, she had picked them up and read them. There has been a phrase in one of them that had truly resonated with her and her own philosophy, "fear is the mind killer." As she remembered the phrase she took several deep breaths, centering herself, "Ok," she thought hopefully "Raven feels calm, maybe "mate bond" is just a misleading name."

"What actually is a mate bond?" she asked quietly

"It's exactly what the name suggests, a bond a demon forms with its mate. The bond will exist as long as we both are alive." Raven paused for a moment before continuing, and despite the fact that her voice was still flat when she spoke again, Blackfire could feel just a shred of amusement from her and saw one side of her mouth rise ever so slightly, in the barest hint of a smile.

"The first rule of a mate bonding is this, A mate may not injure it's mate or, through inaction, allow it's mate to come to harm. That is the core of the bond. Also, we can't be separated for long periods of time and we will likely both be able to use some of the other's powers and while this probably won't matter to you, when the bond finishes fully stabilizing in a couple of hours, your aura and mine will be identical. By the looks of it, yours is changing far more than mine."

"You said it won't stabilize for a few hours, is there anything we can do before that happens?"

"No."

As that one flat word fell from the sorceress's mouth, Blackfire threw a punch at Raven shoulder. She felt no animosity as she tried to punch the smaller woman, just a desperate hope that she was lying, or maybe just wrong. As soon as her fist started to move, it was as if everything she was started to scream that what she was doing was wrong, that she should never even consider hurting the person standing in front of her. While it took every ounce of will she had to keep her fist moving, she thought for a moment that it was going to work, then her muscles simply froze up, her fist bare inches from the empaths shoulder. Looking down at her immobile arm, she thought the worst part of the whole experiment was that as the first approached her, Raven had felt hope for a brief moment, only to have it vanish again as Blackfire's fist stopped.

"And why do you feel so calm about this?" she asked after a few moments of silence.

"I'm fairly sure I'm in shock at the moment." Raven replied calmly, then her eyes widened, "Wait, did you say feel?"

Just as Blackfire opened her mouth to reply, it felt like a sledgehammer struck her head. Suddenly emotions were flooding into her, hope, joy despair, grief, desperation, boredom, and so many others, and there was so much of all of them. Blackfire screamed as she collapsed to her knees, within moments her scream turned into a moan, and she curled into a fetal ball as emotions continued to bombard her.

She barely registered the sound of footsteps, or the person standing above, but bare moments after the emotional assault had begun, she was swallowed up by something. Thankfully the torrent of emotion was cut off as she was swallowed. Those few seconds had left her utterly drained and wherever she was, it was blessedly silent and seemed to give off a feeling of rightness and safety. Those things combined, and she realized she was starting to fall asleep. As she drifted off, a part of her brain recognized that for most people, the place she now occupied would probably be horribly dark and cold. For someone used to the void of space, however, it was simply relaxingly dim and almost warm.


	2. Chapter 2

Wisdom breathed a sigh of relief as her sisters finally stopped bickering. All eight of them had convened the moment the mating occurred, and within seconds Rage had attacked Happy and Love. while Sloth, Rude and Fear had quietly argued amongst themselves, Brave had done her best to restrain Rage. Wisdom had spent the time gathering her thoughts, and in her role as de facto leader she stood up and began talking before another squabble could break out.

"Now that we have all had a bit of time to process what just happened, would everybody be willing to share your thoughts on the matter with me. I intend to speak with the mistress after this and I'm sure she would like to know what you all thing."

She eyed her sisters, and her eyebrows rose in shock when Fear razed her hand first, Fear never volunteered to go first.

"Fear."

Fear smiled nervously as she stood up. "I just want to say, I think this is wonderful. Romance and dating involve so much risk, Malchior certainly taught us that, but with the link, we can know she won't betray us. Also, she's strong, probably stronger than anyone else on the team, with makes it less likely we will accidentally hurt her." Fear then gave a sheepish little smile "And with her watching our back we will be safer too."

Wisdom smiled approvingly at Fear, then looked to Love and Happy, who had sat down next to Fear.

"I don't even need to ask your opinions, do I?"

"Of course not," Love replied, "If this goes well, it'll be the best thing that has ever happened for Happy and me."

Wisdom nodded, then shifted her gaze to Sloth.

"With this, we don't have to go through the work of searching for a mate, what more could I ask." Sloth grinned lazily up at Wisdom as she spoke.

Wisdom barely resisted pursing her lips, of all her sisters it was Sloth who was best at annoying her, but she maintained her composure and simply nodded politely before looking over to Rage.

True fury filled Rage's voice as she spoke. "While we may not be able to hurt her, we should go to Tamaran right now and set our demons free on it. If she had come to us on her knees and begged us to take her as our mate I probably would have been in favor of accepting, she's strong, cunning, and by birth, she should rule an entire species, overall not an entirely unsuitable mate. But, she stole the kiss and effectively bound us, and that can't be allowed to stand. Turning her homeworld to ash and leaving her as one of the last of her kind in the universe seems an appropriate response."

Wisdom hid the amusement she felt at Rage's rant and simply nodded, then looked to where Brave sat beside Rage, an arm wrapped around her waist. That was another thing she would have to speak with the mistress about at some point, while she doubted there would have been a problem if any other of her sisters had been involved, she knew that Raven still didn't truly trust rage and that meant she would have to broach the subject carefully.

"I abstain, while the idea of the struggles it would take get Blackfire to accept us and those that would be needed to get the others to accept her are exciting, so is the idea of actually trying the fight the mate bond.

Wisdom nodded once again, then finally looked at Rude.

"I'm all for it, once we work things out with her, we'll be able to rub the fact we ended up with the best mate in everyone else's faces."

"I see." Wisdom nodded, "so seven in favor of trying to make things work with Blackfire and one abstention."

"What!" Rage bellowed

"Your problem is with the situation, not with Blackfire. We could all feel Blackfire's confusion and alarm, she had no idea what she was doing. While I will convey your irritation with the situation, I will also let her know you approve of Blackfire on a personal basis."

Rage growled, but it subsided as Brave pulled her a bit closer.

"So, you're in favor than?" Happy chirruped

"Yes." Wisdom replayed calmly "I believe having a mate will be very good for the mistress, and while I may have my concerns about Blackfire as a person, the bond could not have formed if we were truly incompatible. We have only seen her around her sister, and we know Starfire becomes erratic when Blackfire is involved, it is entirely possible the reverse is true as well. Now, does anyone else have anything they want to add?"

She saw only shaking heads as she scanned the pristine Dojo that was Braves domain.

"Well then, I shall take my leave and do my best to convince our mistress that what happened is a good thing and that she should give Blackfire a chance."

So saying, she vanished from the Dojo.

* * *

 

Raven floated over the city as Wisdom spoke to her and Blackfire slept inside her. While maintaining the pocket of soul stuff her mate was sleeping in did take some power, with how much she held back when fighting, she judged the additional draw on her powers should in no way impede her.

"So," she interrupted after a while "Give Blackfire a chance, that's the consensus?"

"Indeed"

"Well, it's not like I have much of a choice."

"Your choice is whether you approach this with an open mind or not. Please, give her a real chance."

Raven sighed "This whole conversation may be irrelevant, you remember how she was hanging off of Robin last time she was here, don't you?"

"I have gone back over your memories and identified the emotional presence that must have been Blackfire. When she approached you she was feeling, among other things, a happy anticipation, she expected to enjoy the kiss."

"Well, that's lucky I suppose."

"Possibly, or possibly the bond wouldn't have formed if she was only interested in boys. So, will you try to approach Blackfire with an open mind?"

Raven floated through the air in silence for a few moments, and then, at last, she sighed. "Yes, not only will I go in with an open mind, I will actually try my best to make this work." Her expression turned sour briefly, then she sighed and her normal impassivity returned. "After all, I hardly find the idea of being trapped for eternity with someone who hates me an appealing prospect."

As Wisdom went silent, Raven turned towards Titan's tower, she had work to do if she was going to prepare a place for Blackfire to stay and some of the spells she would need to cast actually would take her full concentration, Therefore, the first thing she needed to do was drop off Blackfire. As they flew, Raven turned her attention inwards, to the place where Blackfire slept. She wondered briefly if the purring noise her mate was making was the Tamaranean equivalent of snoring, or if it meant something else. Shaking her head, she focused on her empathy, trying to read the Tamaranean as deeply as she could, without actually reading her mind. She blinked as she realized just how familiar the emotions at the core of the other girl were. Rage, intense and filled with resentment. A bone-deep loneliness filled with the knowledge that no one had ever accepted her, just because of who and what she happened to be. An unshakeable sense of duty, and a razor-sharp intellect that was usually able to hold all of her emotions in check. Oh, there were others as well, such as an intense and determined pride, but the four at her core so perfectly matched what Raven saw when she looked in herself that, for the first time since the bond was formed, she actually felt some hope that things might work out.

* * *

 

Blackfire woke when the environment suddenly shifted. Instantly she was floating, a starbolt readied in either hand, looking for any threats.

"Relax." The monotone voice came from her right, and she spun to face its source. Raven hovered a couple of feet from her, and upon seeing her, she instinctively did relax.

"You passed out after your awakened empathy hit you with a cities' worth of emotions. I brought you into me, but if you're going to have a place to stay that doesn't come with the risk of your sister walking in on you, I'm going to need to cast some spells that will take all my attention."

Blackfire sat in silence for a moment, then a smirk spread across her face. "I had always assumed the tower was built on an island as a defensive measure, but tell me, is that actually why the tower was built here?"

"Are you suggesting that I might have played on some of my teammate's obsession with security and made the construction of this tower far more difficult, just so as that I would have an easier time relaxing?"

Blackfire's smirk simply widened

There was just a hint of an answering grin on her face as Raven warned Blackfire "Stay in my room while I'm gone, and you should be fine. We can talk about what well do about our situation once I've gotten you back out of the tower."

"So, no teasing my sister? I'd had a plan all worked out."

"No tormenting Starfire, we're going to have enough trouble without the rest of the team knowing you're on planet."

"Are you sure? The plan involved Robin growing cat ears."

The corners of Raven's lips started to twitch as she fought to suppress an amused smile. "As much as I would enjoy watching Robin's reaction to that, we really can't afford the attention right now."

Blackfire finally nodded in agreement and sat on Raven's bed.

"I'll be back soon, and oh, don't touch that chest over there, there's a dragon in it."

Blackfire twitched violently, and a wave of shock and alarm ran through her. They were followed by indignation when she felt the amusement coming from Raven. Before she could say anything, the sorceress has vanished.

Blackfire floated over to the bookcases and started to examine them, keeping a careful distance from the chest Raven had indicated. Despite the amusement she had felt in Raven a few moments later, she had been able to tell the half-demon was telling the truth about the dragon. As she read through the titles, she suddenly let out a bark of sardonic amusement, she could read everything, except for the books written in the demon tongue. She continued to scan the bookshelves, pausing briefly to stare at a giant stuffed chicken that was sitting on top of one of the shelves. Finally, she came to a single shelf fixed directly to the wall. A row of obviously handwritten books sat on it, and she picked up the first one, looking it over.

"Thoughts. By Azar. Volume I" she read aloud.

Looking at the other books on the shelf, they were Thoughts, Volumes II through XII. Intrigued by this one set of books, stored separately from all the rest, she carried it back to the bed and started to read. After a while she felt a cold pressure fill the room, turning, she saw Raven standing and looking at what she was reading.

"What do you think?" she asked Blackfire. While the question was asked in a flat voice, she could feel that it truly mattered to the Blue robed sorceress.

"It's interesting. The woman was clearly a genius, and while my philosophy and the authors done exactly match, it's fascinating to look at things from her point of view. Not only that, she seems to have lived a truly interesting life. If you don't mind, I'd enjoy reading the rest of the book at some point, as well as the other ones she wrote."

Blackfire barely suppressed a gasp when Raven actually smiled at her response, it wasn't a wide smile, but it was far more than the slight quirk of the lips she had seen previously, and the effect it had on Raven's face. She subtly took a deep breath and willed her heartbeat to return to normal.

"I believe that could be arranged. You're probably going to have some free time on your hands while we figure out what having this bond means for us, the least I could do is lend you some of my books. Ready to go?"

Blackfire nodded, and a wave of darkness swallowed her, taking her back the comforting darkness she had slept in earlier.

* * *

 

Beastboy chewed absently on a carrot. He had woken up well before anyone else and had decided to have a snack. As he ate, his mind wandered. He had turned twenty recently, and the name Beastboy was starting to chafe, for some time now he had contemplated changing it. He still remembered Raven's expression when had suggested changing it to Beastman all those years ago, so that was out. Shifter perhaps, or maybe Changer. While he sort of liked Changer, it didn't feel quite right. An idea suddenly struck him, Raven would be back by now, she'd be able to think of something.

He walked towards her room with a smile on his face, Raven had a way with names. When the team first formed he and Cyborg had argued for it to be called Ass kicking superheroes, while Robin and Starfire had argued for Shields of Innocents, it was Raven who had suggested Titans. Years later, he had to admit, to himself at least, that he was glad Raven had won that argument. He knocked on her door and waited. After a few moments, he sniffed at the air. Even in his human form, he had a far better sense of smell than any normal person, and the scent he was smelling made him nervous. He couldn't quite identify the smell, be it was something his instincts were telling him he should recognize as a threat. Opening the door quietly he peeked in, seeing only an empty room.

He shifted to a bloodhound and padded into the room. As he sniffed through the room, he became certain someone other than Raven had been in the room, and whoever it had been, it wasn't someone he associated with anything good. He began to methodically sniff his way up and down the room, glad Robin had forced him through that bomb-sniffing dog certification course. After several minutes of searching, he had found nothing. Still, if they were targeting Raven specifically, it was very likely they were magic users of some sort, and he realized he probably wouldn't be able to find a magic based trap. The image of Raven returning to her room, only to suddenly be engulfed by a pillar of fire, entered his mind and he could feel the beast deep inside him let out an angry snarl. If anything was going to happen to the woman who, over the last few years, truly had become a sister to him, it would be over his dead body. He hopped up onto her bed, still in dog form, and padded around in a circle a few times before lying down, when Raven returned he would warn her of the intruder and the possible threat.

* * *

 

Blackfire floated in the darkness. She felt the same comforting feeling she had the last time and began to focus on it. The feeling seemed to be coming from every direction, then she blinked, there was one small area that wasn't giving off the same feeling. She spent the rest of the trip focusing on that single area.

When she was ejected from the darkness, she found herself standing in the center of a large room. The room seemed well furnished and had three doors. After a quick glance at the room's contents, she looked to Raven.

"What's up with your soul?" she asked softly

"I store things in it, use it in combat, and as a means of transport, you're going to have to be a bit more specific."

"A piece of it seems to be missing."

Raven actually smiled again, and she could feel the wave of happiness that came from something associated with her question.

"It's bound inside a ring. I gave it to the eldest of my wards in case they ever got in trouble."

Raven paused for a moment as she walked to a counter on one side of the room. She pulled a kettle from underneath it and plugged it in.

"Tea?"

Blackfire smiled as she felt the contented focus on a familiar task that was coming from the other woman.

"Yes, please."

"Red, green, black, or herbal."

Blackfire thought for a moment, while she had a general idea of earth's cultures and customs, it didn't extend this far.

"Black." She said decisively.

"surprising." She could feel the amusement behind the sardonic reply.

As the half-demon poked through the cupboards and set about preparing the tea, Blackfire let her newly acquired scenes quest through the room. She found that her empathic sense stopped dead the walls, and the noticed patterns chalked all across them. She turned her focus on raven and had a few moments of simply sensing the contentment.

"Ah, there it is."

Blackfire almost asked what, then realized the words hadn't been said allowed. She began to try to figure out how she had done that, and after a few moments, the words came back.

"Not as good as fresh but at least they were vacuumed sealed. If I'm going to be coming here regularly, I'll have to bring something better."

Blackfire let a pleased smirk play over her face as she figured out the proper way to focus to employ this new talent. This could be very useful, if she was going to be stuck with Raven, knowing what kind of person she truly was could be critical.

* * *

 

Raven felt a slight telepathic touch drift over her mind, then fade. A few moments later it returned and this time, rather than fading, it grew in intensity. She grimaced slightly and sighed internally. She could vividly remember the punishments the monks of Azarath had inflicted the one time she had tried to probe someone's mind. Unfortunately, the memory crystal they had used had been destroyed when Azarath fell. She subtly redirected the mental probe into a stream of inconsequential thoughts while she decided just how to get the same message across. A wicked impulse struck her, and she had a moment to worry that Love and Rage might have joined forces before she put it into practice. She focused all her mind on a single scene. Blackfire, naked, her arms and legs tied to the bedposts, an equally naked Starfire sitting on top of her, her hands and mouth slowly descending. Raven chuckled softly, she had never felt a telepath recoil from a mind that quickly before. She didn't turn as she heard a whip like crack behind her, then stomping footsteps come up behind her. A Black silk cord slipped over her head and around her neck, before simply falling to the ground as she heard a thump behind her.

Raven looked down at the black silk cord that lay on the ground, she had seen it artfully wrapped around Blackfire's left arm earlier. As she stared at the thin cord she remembered that she had read somewhere that silk cord was one of the best things to strangle someone with.

"Holy Scath" the appalled thought played through her mind. "My mate wares a strangling cord as an accessory."

She looked from the cord to Blackfire, who was standing back and rubbing at her backside while giving Raven a pointed look. While falling backwards rather than pulling the cord taught herself wasn't enough to get around the bond, the message behind it and the look was clear, "Keep doing things like that and I'll start looking for creative ways to get around the bond."

Raven focused on the seriousness of what she had to say. "You can't just peek into people's minds. Not only do you not know what you might end up seeing, it's incredibly invasive. Believe me, what I just did is mild compared to what the monks of Azarath did to me when I tried what you did. Trust me, even if you don't care about the moral angle, there are few ways to make enemies faster than to make them think you may be messing with their mind."

* * *

 

Blackfire had managed to get anger and disgust she had felt at the image that had flooded her mind under control as the shorter woman spoke. After a moment's thought, she had to admit, Raven did have a point, if she ever found someone messing around with her mind, she'd hunt them across the stars and rip their throat out with her bare hands. She walked across the room and sat down in a chair at the table, watching as Raven carried a tray to the table then poured hot water into two mugs.

"So tell me," she asked, as Raven dropped two metal cylinders into the water and let their chains dangle down the outside of the mugs. "Where are we?"

"The team's been driven out of the tower a couple of times in the past. We've established several safe houses in case it ever happens again. This is one of them."

Blackfire smirked, "And since it's assumed the tower will be in enemy hands if you need to use it, your team has no way to monitor it from there and find out you're using it to entertain guests."

Raven nodded silently

"So then, what are we going to do now?"

The sorceress sat quietly for a moment, then spoke. "We're stuck with each other, and we can't hurt the other, I suggest we spend some time truly getting to know each other. Hopefully, we'll be able to find some common ground and work things out from there. I'd appreciate it if you would tell me a bit about yourself. I'm not very good at talking about myself, but I will make the attempt in return."

Blackfire thought about the proposal for a moment, she wasn't used to opening up either, but the emotions she could feel coming from the other woman helped reassure her. She'd never really felt the need to justify her past actions to anyone. Not only that, knowing what drove her would make it far easier to figure how to hurt or trap her, but then again, there'd never been anyone who was physically unable to turn against her. Then there was the fact Raven was a half-demon, if she was anything like most of her kind, her mother would have seen her more as an apprentice, or someone to carry on her practice, rather than as a daughter. The fact that she was here, rather than still learning from her mother seemed to suggest that they might have had some very experiences. Taking a moment to simply feel the sincerity coming from the woman sitting next to her, she began to talk.

* * *

 

Raven looked at Blackfire and felt the indecision coming from her. Hoping Blackfire would feel it, she focused on her desire for things to work between her and Blackfire. After a moment, Raven could feel the emotional snap of a decision being reached, and Blackfire began to speak.

"Where to start? Well, I suppose that it would be best, to begin with, what matters most to me, I was the eldest child if the king and queen of Tamaran. Honestly, that's probably the only reason I survived past infancy, any other child like me would have been quietly strangled by it parents or murdered by a neighbor. As you probably saw on your visit to Tamaran, all Tamaranean's are very similar in some ways, such as having red hair and green eyes. These differences on their own wouldn't have been too bad, but I have a problem absorbing sunlight. As I'm sure Starfire has told you, we power things like our flight and starbolts from absorbed sunlight. For most Tamaranean's, wearing an outfit with as much skin exposure as the one my sister wears and not staying inside all the time is more than enough, it's not for me. I have to spend a lot of time simply sunbathing. Tamaraneans are warriors and a genetic defect that, if passed on, might weaken the race is unacceptable. Fortunately, it's rather difficult to make the crown princess quietly disappear. Another problem was how I behaved, a Tamaranean is supposed to be impulsive and follow their heart, I could never stop myself from thinking first and doing what seemed logical instead. Yet another sign I was clearly defective."

"For the first thirteen years, things weren't too bad, I focused on improving my martial skills to make up for my lack of power, and decided my attitude would actually help in diplomatic negotiations once I took the throne. I spent almost every hour training, either for when I inherited the crown, or with one of the arms masters. Starfire was three and a half years younger than me, and the perfect modal of a Tamaranean. I didn't have much time to spare for her, but when I did, she was always sweet and kind, and I loved her. Then on her tenth birthday, our parents announced she was now heir to the throne. After that, my relationship with her, _deteriorated_. There were times when I hated for stealing my birthright and bullied her mercilessly. Other times I scorned her for the fact that she still lived the same carefree life she had before she was named crown princess. Still other times felt guilty about my behavior and tried to be nice to her, it was our parents that did it after all, not her. I don't think Starfire ever truly understood why some days I'd be bullying her and others I'd be doing everything I could to make her happy."

"Of course, very little of my time was actually spent with my sister, less than before the announcement in fact. I spent even more time training, hoping that if I could just prove myself thoroughly enough, then on my next birthday it would be announced I was once again heir to the throne. It never happened of course, though I kept hoping for several years. Then, the Gordanians invaded. It was ugly, the king and queen fell in battle, and the Gordanians didn't care how many non-combatants died in the fighting. Despite now being in Command, Starfire was, of course, at the front of the battle, rather than in the palace organizing the entire defense like a leader should. That's why I got the call from the Gordanian war leader, they would withdraw if we gave them the Starfire. I suggested the eldest child of the late king and queen might be a more appropriate hostage, but they said we" and as Blackfire spoke, her voice took on a deeper tone, filled with contempt, "Don't need an ugly freak who will be lucky not to be strung up by her own people."

While Blackfire's voice returned to its normal tone with her next words, Raven could see her hands, which had balled into fists early in her story, now had blood seeping from them. She realized Blackfire was clenching her fists so hard her nails had bitten through her skin.

"They insisted on Starfire. They knew that no matter what I did with the time handing her over would by for Tamaran, once they broke her and made her into their puppet, all they'd need to do to overthrow me was let Starfire miraculously escape. Now, you know my sister, if I had told her that going with the Gordanians would save the rest of Tamaran, what do you think she would have done?"

Raven sighed, she did know Starfire and knew she would have gone with them without hesitation.

"But you didn't give her the choice."

A smug grin spread across Blackfire's face. "No, I certainly didn't. I called her back to the palace and had her restrained before she could even realize what was happening. The Gordanians had no problem with this, they just thought it would give the Tamaranean's one more reason to hate me, and make it less likely I could do anything with the time I had bought. That, however, was a mistake. They didn't understand Starfire, if she had agreed to go with them to save Tamaran, then she would have felt honor-bound to simply attempt to endure whatever happened to her, and would probably even have resisted any rescue attempts, since I had kidnapped and sold her however, she felt no such compunctions. While I couldn't send any direct rescue attempts without violating the terms, I did quietly let some bounty hunters and rogue mercenary outfits know that if they happened to end up in possession of Starfire, Tamaran would be willing to pay a sizable ransom."

A proud look spread across Blackfire's face "But, she is my sister, she managed to escape on her own. As you can probably guess, things were a mess on Tamaran at the time, it was quite some time before I was able to break free from putting things back together and come to visit Starfire. All her life Starfire had wanted a Centauri moon diamond, I hoped acquiring one and giving it to her would serve as a peace offering. I was certain I had lost all pursuit before I came to earth, I still suspect I had and they simply guessed that I might visit my sister and staked the Sol system out. However it happened, you know what did happen when I came. At the end, when Starfire flew to me and accused me, I had been leaving, planning to attack the centaurian ship and damage its engines, that would have both slowed it down and focused attention back on me."

"I escaped the centaurian ship before it even left Sol and went back to Tamaran. In some ways what Starfire did that night hurt more than her stealing the throne from me, after all, that clearly was her choice."

Raven could feel the honesty conviction and hurt that came that came with Blackfire's next words. "If I had found out my sister had killed someone, my first response would be to give her advice on destroying the body and help her construct an alibi. I think it was the pain of finding out she would turn on her own flesh and blood for such a small crime that led to the wedding fiasco."

When Blackfire fell silent Raven prodded her with a question. "You mean that's way you tried to marry her to that slime creature?"

"No, I set up the engagement to Glgrdsklechhh because Drenthax had a strong Navy and bordered Gordanian space, the wedding would have made a follow-up invasion far harder. No, I didn't explain things because I enjoyed watching her squirm after what she had done. Think for a moment, did Glgrdsklechhh look like he could breed with a Tamaranean? Of course not, he already had a consort and certainly wouldn't have minded Starfire keeping robin as hers. In fact, once Starfire had spent a few months on Drenthax, he wouldn't have minded her spending most of the time on earth, as long as she visited a couple of times a year to make public appearances with him. while even just marrying him on paper may have been distasteful, the position of Princess comes with responsibilities, as well as wealth and a pretty castle. You know what happened with that too, I ended up banished, Starfire returned to ignoring her responsibilities, and Galfore ruined all of my carefully worked out treaties within a month. Since then, I've been Traveling all around our arm of the galaxy. I've been meeting with neutral powers and getting into their good graces, and I've kept an eye out for any possible threats to Tamaran. Whenever I find one of those, I _deal_ with it."

"You mean destroy it I assume?"

"Only when time is limited or there aren't better options available, while a pile certainly sends a strong message, I prefer to find more elegant solutions. For instance, when I found a secret asteroid base in Vorliniar space that the Gordanians had constructed as a waypoint to launch small raids against Tamaran, I simply informed the Vorlinian government, they sent a small task force and blow the base to pieces. Now the Vorlinian imperium and the Gordanians are glaring daggers at each other, and both have less attention for any plots against Tamaran."

Blackfire sat back in her in her chair, seeming to relax. "that's really what I've been doing since we last met, working to keep Tamaran safe and making connections for when I take back my birthright, oh and exploring remote planets after doing something that's likely to make someone want to kill me even more than they normally do. Now, Raven, it's your turn, tell me a bit about yourself."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s note.  
> First, yes, Raven does pray, or at least curse, by herself, she finds it amusing. Second, I haven’t read the comics and don’t know Blackfire’s actual background story, though I seem to remember reading somewhere that she wasn’t viewed as a proper Tamaranean because of some disability. The inspiration for this backstory comes as much from Weretiger Marduk's story on FF.net “Alone” as it does from the show, though I tried to put my own spin on it. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, Comments, as well as kudos and bookmarks are always greatly appreciated.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN Sorry about this chapter being a bit infodumpie, but I couldn't see a way around it. after this chapter however, I don't think there will be the need for any more large infodumps. If things go well, I'll be trying to release a chapter every Saturday.

Blackfire sat back and watched as Raven sipped her tea, clearly gathering her thoughts.

Finally Raven sighed quietly. "You know I'm half-demon, how much more do you know about me?"

"Know for certain? Very little, though I have made a few assumptions. I would guess your mother was a sorceress of some power and that she made a deal with a demon, more power or something along those lines in return for bearing its child. The fact that you're here, on your own, rather than learning from your mother, makes me think you may also have a sibling who stole your rightful place."

"Not bad guesses, that certainly is where most half-demons come from, but my story is slightly different."

"Wait," Blackfire interrupted as gently as she could before Raven launched into her story. As interesting and informative as it might be, Blackfire had had enough discussions interrupted to know it was best to cover the critical information first. "Would you mind answering a question first?"

Raven blinked, "Depends on the question, though since I'm trying to be open, I'd say the chances are high."

"Ok, four governments have kill on sight orders out for me, luckily the Gordanians are the only ones who probably have people actively hunting me at the moment. One of the other four is actually several decades from even being able to put satellites in orbit around their planet, much less having interstellar capabilities, and they have only ever encountered one alien, so they shouldn't be much of a threat. Still, with us being bound together like this, you might be at risk. My question is, do you have anything similar, people who actually want you dead?"

"One who certainly intends to kill me, a second who would undoubtedly be pleased to see me dead and may have moved to actively trying to kill me, and perhaps an unidentified third if the second hasn't started actively trying to kill me. And you're right, any threat to one of us now affects us both, so I'll want to hear more about the people who're after you later."

Blackfire winced internally, while she had no problem with hunting down and killing three humans, she didn't look forward to trying to convince someone with a hero's mentality that letting her hunt them down was the proper course of action.

"Ok, let's start with the one we know will be a problem, who is it? Also, I saw some old footage of titan battles while I was eating my dinner, it looked like you act more in a support role, what in X'hal's Name could you possibly have done to make someone hate you that much?"

Blackfire winced, a twinge of pain had shot through her head near the end of the question.

"His name's Sebastian Blood, and he's somewhat annoyed with me for killing his god and excommunicating him from the church he used to lead."

Blackfire's eyes widened in shock, and she could feel Raven's quiet amusement at her reaction.

"You killed a god? Ok, I have to hear this."

"First, a question. How much do you know about demons?"

"Not much, they're highly magical beings, most like destruction and conquest, all want souls, and they'll probably either torture or eat the souls they get."

Raven closed her eyes briefly, then reopened them. "Ok, Demonology 101. The first thing you need to know is this, there are an infinite number of parallel dimensions and alternate realities, and these are all separated from each other by the void. Every dimension or reality, no matter how large or small, is formed within its own small bubble in the void, but like all rules, even this has an exception. When Demos formed, it was not in a bubble of reality but within the void itself, and it was where demons were born. Now you have to understand, demons feed on magical energy. For a long time, demons were only able to eat when Demos drifted near a reality bubble, as those slowly leek magic and other energies into the void. With food being scarce and more powerful demons needing more of it, an extremely ruthless clan-based society formed. At the top of each clan was a demon lord, followed by several tiers of lesser demons. Any lesser demon who did not join a clan was devoured by a demon lord or a more powerful lessor demon. Since demon lords were responsible for feeding their clan, they kept them as small as they could, while not being small enough to look like easy prey to another demon lord. As a result, there was fierce fighting for a place in any demon lord's clan."

Raven paused for a moment, then laughed mirthlessly. "This gave rise to two things, one which was the mate bond. Since two demons of similar power levels would instinctively see each other as rivals and want to kill each other, the bond was needed if the demons didn't want to die out almost instantly. Those early demons magically altered themselves to be able to form the link, and to be insanely protective of their young, in order to avoid extinction. The other thing that developed during that time was instinctive, and absolute, need for any demon, incapable of becoming a demon lord in their own right, to swear fealty to one. This, by the way, happens to include the league's pet demon, though, luckily for them, the lord of the Twenty-third seat has never turned his attention to this reality. He's simply happy to have a demon who owes him fealty but isn't a drain on one of his realities supply of magic."

"Twenty-third chair?"

Ah, sorry, I was getting ahead of myself, we'll get to the council of Demos in a bit. Eventually, demons discovered how to actually enter realities and how to jump from one to another through the void. Demon lords started to conquer some of the smaller and weaker dimensions, and with access to more magic, they grew the size of their clans. This continued for a long time, demons conquering, expanding and growing, then one very unfortunate demon lord stumbled a dimension that was home to what you would call angles. The angles were in every way the antithesis of demons, and it was extremely easy for them to kill demons. The demon lord and his clan were quickly wiped out, and then the angles started systematically hunting demons. While the demons vastly outnumbered the angles, they also still had an instinctive hatred for each other, to the point that even with the infinity of realities to pick from, demon lords often attacked and tried the seize the realities of another demon lord. Because of this, it was a long time before enough of the demon lords banded together to destroy the angles, in fact demons came perilously close to extinction before the angles were wiped out."

"Determined never to come that close to extinction again, the most powerful demon lord of the time formed the council of demon, and, over time, convinced one hundred of the strongest demon lords to join him on it. The point of the council is to be ready to instantly respond and, if another reality with angles, or a similar threat is discovered, the council will either seal the bubble off or wipe its inhabitants out."

Raven paused a moment to sip her tea, then looked at Blackfire. "And this leads to your question about the god I killed. One of the demon lords, the lord of the eights seat, set his eye on this reality a long time ago. Now, there's something else you need to understand about realities, the bubble that contains one can in many ways be pictured as a chain, the more inhabitants a reality has, the thicker the chain is. The chain of a small reality is enough to keep out most lessor demons, but a demon lord could simply break through it. Thicker chains can even keep a demon lord out, but the metaphorical chain links have become so big to do so that lessor demons can slip through them. By the standards of realities, ours is huge, with an almost incalculable number of worlds and so much life in it, meaning the demon lord couldn't get in without a powerful invitation. In time, however, he found a solution, a couple ago he made contact with a cult of magicians and, in time, that cult became the foundation of the church of blood. Now while worship is a form of power, and while becoming a god associated with this reality came close to being enough of an invitation, it was not quite enough on its own. By using centuries of hoarded power, a bit over twenty years ago, the church succeeded in a partial summoning. While the demon lord had little of his power and couldn't stay in our reality long, he could stay long enough to impregnate one of the cultists."

Raven stopped talking, and Blackfire stayed silent, feeling the emotional pain and turmoil this part of the story was causing the sorceress. After a few minutes, Raven started talking again, though now there was far more emotion in her voice than Blackfire was used to hearing in it.

"Her name was Arella Roth, a runaway who the church had found, taken in, and indoctrinated. Soon after the night of the summoning she fled the church. Horrified by what was growing inside her, she tried to kill herself several times, but the demon lords spawn was powerful even before it was born, and it kept its mother alive, no matter what she did. As you know from the book you were reading in my room, Azar was originally from earth, and even after she gained access to a tiny dimension of her own, she occasionally visited earth. On one such visit, she happened across Arella Roth and took her back to Azarath with her. In time, the child was born, Arella, however, would have nothing to do with it. She would scream if she was even in the same room as it, and despite the fact that she had quickly become a devout follower of Azar, and that pacifism was one of Azar's primary tenets, she would fight frantically if it seemed someone was going to make her touch the baby. She refused to even give it a name. in time Azar named the baby for one of her favorite birds, and took over primary care of it."

"While Azar cared for the baby, her followers feared it. Much of Azar's time was taken up with her church or with the management of Azarath, leaving little time for the baby. During the times she had to leave the baby in the care of her followers, when it needed changing or feeding, it was all done telekinetically through spells, and even that stopped as soon as the child could conceivably do them for itself. In its time in Azarath, the only person who ever actually touched it was Azar herself. The child's emotions had power, and she was taught to separate herself from them at an early age. Its life was meditation, study, and occasional brief moments spent with Azar."

"That all changed when the child was fourteen. The demon lord had realized its child was no longer on earth some time ago and had begun to search for it. He had decided it would be best to train the child himself and then, when it was old enough, sent it to earth to open a portal for him. In time he located Azarath. Now, Azar's goal was to make a bastion of goodness and slowly expand it, and to never actually try to destroy evil, because that of destruction would taint all involved. She believed that in time the good people would simply come to her bastion while the evil would turn on each other and destroy themselves. Because of that, Azarath was absolutely filled with protective spells and wards against things she considered to be evil, and that very much included demons."

"The Demon lord arrived at dawn one day, and Azar went to the center of the city to face him,"

Raven's words choked off, and she once again sat in silence, clutching at her mug of tea.

* * *

Memories assaulted Raven, the terrified screams as the sky turned to fire. Azar putting the book she had been reading to Raven down, looking out the window, walking calmly back and giving Raven a tight hug before grabbing her staff and waking out. Raven had followed as Azar had walked to the center of the city, calling for everyone to join her. The entire population of Azarath had formed several human chains, each of which had had Azar as their final link. Raven had tried to join one, but Azar had forbidden it. Everyone channeled their power to Azar and Azar had used it to fend off every blow and spell Trigon had cast at them. Arella had been the first to channel her very life and soul into Azar, but over the three days and nights the battle lasted, the entire population followed suit. Raven remembered watching the human chains slowly falling over, like slow motion dominos. In all the time Azar stood against Trigon she did not attack once, simply trying to outlast the demon lord and hoping he would leave. She remembered vividly, the triumphant look on Trigon's face as the last of Azar's followers fell and the serene look on Azar's face as Trigon launched that final spell at her. Rather than try to block it, she had instead opened a portal and hurled Raven through it. She vividly remembered that final telepathic message, and how abruptly it had cut off.

"Raven, I truly believe that away from his influence, you will find a way to fight your destiny and this is all I can do to keep you free. While biologically you may not have been my daughter, that is always what you have been to me, and I have loved you as su."

Raven closed her eyes and squeezed the mug even harder, then her eyes shot open in shock as she felt the emotions coming from Blackfire.

* * *

Blackfire could feel the pain and misery these memories caused Raven, but she didn't know what to do about it. Now that she understood what physical contact actually meant to Raven, she knew touching her wouldn't be appropriate, at least not yet. After several moments of simply feeling helpless, inspiration struck. Going through her memories, she focused on several that conjured feelings of comfort and safety. She focused on these emotions with everything she had, and tried to will empath sitting across from her to feel them. She saw Raven's eyes shoot open and focus on her, and watched as the pain and despair receded slowly from the other woman.

"Thank you." The words were quiet, but Blackfire was certain she had never heard the half-demon put that much emotion into her words before.

"As I was saying I" Raven paused a moment then continued "The child watched as Azar tried to defend Azarath. All its inhabitants gave their lives to Azar, to aid her in the attempt, starting with the child's mother. At dawn, on the fourth day, the last of Azar's followers fell, and Azar threw the child through a portal to earth. It emerged in Gotham, and believe me, now that you're an empath that's one city you want to avoid. The power behind the portal was hardly subtle, and it didn't take long for Gotham's Dark Knight to find the Child. Other members of the league converged in Gotham and Batman brought her to them. One of the members, Zatanna Zatara, attacked her on sight, and though the other members forced her to stop and let the girl tell her story, she didn't become any friendlier. When the time came to decide what to do, Zatanna was unable to convince enough members to have the girl exorcised, but she did turn enough of them against the girl that they refused to help her. The girl fled terrified of what the league might decide to do with her. Batman had been one of those who argued in her defense, and that is probably why she ended up where she did. Her teleportation spell likely attached itself to someone who had been close to Batmen for a long time, his apprentice. She ended up in the same city as this apprentice and spent several days trying to decide what to do. With her knowledge of magic and her trouble dealing with people, what she wanted to do was open a quiet little shop selling enchanted items. She knew, however, that the first time one of them fell into the hands of a villain, Zatanna would use it as evidence that the demon lord's daughter was supporting evil, and probably trying to gather allies who would help her usher in her father. Then a certain alien arrived in the city, and during the commotion, the girl realized her best hope for safety was by establishing herself as a hero. By joining the team that formed, she hoped Batman would be able to argue that with Robin leading her team, he would be able to keep a close eye on the girl."

"The plan seemed to work, and for years the girl worked as part of the team, then her destiny came about. Though she fought against it, in the end, she brought the demon lord to this world. Luckily her teammates, who she had shielded with the last of her power before she opened the portal, were able to bring her back. With the return of her power, and in the demon lord's arrogance, she was able to hit him with all her power. The demon lord was torn particle from particle, and those were scattered across the whole of the void. As she was part demon, and she had killed another demon, she inherited all that was his, his powers, his clan, his conquered dimensions, his seat on the council, even the mantle of Scath."

"Even after she killed her father, the stance of the league didn't change. Those who had defended her claimed the destruction of the demon lord was proof that their faith in her was well placed, while those against her argued that, in the end, there was a demon lord in their reality now, and that she should be destroyed for the safety of all. During this time, the girl was dealing with her inheritance. You mentioned demon's desire for souls and their habit of torturing them, the reason for this is that souls constantly generate magical energy and that they generate more when an intense emotion is experienced. The pain and despair from torture are fairly universal across all species, and many demons are too lazy to find better ways to produce emotions. The girl researched more pleasant ways to generate emotions in the souls that were now hers, and set them in place in her dimensions. She repaired much of Azarath and began to filter much of the power that came from her worship into Azarath's wards. Then, as with its wards is place nothing short a demon lord could enter it without her permission, she began to convince other demon lords that Azarath was an ideal vault for their treasures. As, even now, most demons are extremely violent and desire conflict, she began to hire out her demons as mercenaries for other demon lords. She does not cause the instinctive rivalry demons feel for others near their power level, as the human part of her soul will provide her with energy so long as she has a body and eats, so she also sometimes acts as an intermediary between demon lords. Because of all this, it has become almost impossible for another demon lord to attack her, or her lands, as such an attack would threaten Azarath and all the demon lords who stored things they valued there would see it as an attack on their interests, and respond violently."

"She also began to change the teachings of the church of blood, Unfortunately for her, while most of the churches followers were sworn to Scath, the first priest was sworn directly to Trigon, the former demon lord. His oaths to Trigon now force him avenge trigons death. For the last couple of years, she has expected an attack at any time, and the fact it has been this long means that when it comes, it will be well planned out."

A slight grin played over Raven's face. "though it is unlikely he will have taken the possibility that the new demon lord would end up with a mate into his plans."

Blackfire looked seriously at Raven "Raven, you should let me hunt him down and kill him before he puts his plans in motion. If the oaths you mentioned are as powerful a binding as I'm guessing they are, one of the two of you is going to end up dead, let's make sure it's the man who was willing to sell out his entire species."

Raven sighed but finally nodded. "You're right about the strength of the oaths, I'll start looking into where he might be hiding and preparing."

Blackfire smiled, stood up, walked around, then pulled the demi-demon into a tight hug.

"I can't promise how our relationship will develop from here." Blackfire whispered into her mate's ear. "while I certainly do find you attractive and I'm now fairly certain we can at least get along, we haven't known each other long enough to be sure of more. There is one thing I can promise you However, I was the one responsible for causing this bond, and like with my responsibility to Tamaran, I have no intention of shirking this responsibility, whatever happens in the future, I promise you won't be alone for it."

* * *

Raven felt total sincerity and intense protectiveness from the other woman. While a part of her was amused, her mate was apparently almost as protective of anything she considered to be hers as a demon, most of her was simply intently grateful. Raven had always recoiled from Starfire's hugs, they were simply a sign that Star was happy and any form of physical contact meant too much to Raven for her to be able to deal with hugs with so little meaning. She doubted Robin or Beastboy had realized how much she was trying to convey to them with the hugs she had given them after they had saved her from Trigon. But this, this was different. After the story, Blackfire knew what it meant to her and was giving it to her to reinforce a promise for the future, a promise that was utterly genuine. On top of even that, as she felt Blackfire's emotions, she felt no hint of fear. As much as they tried to hide it, even her fellow titans feared her to one degree or another, but it seemed Blackfire's self-confidence, combined with a trust in the power of their bond, was enough to banish any hint of fear.

The torrent of emotions Raven felt as Blackfire held her and promised her she wouldn't be alone while she, the first time since losing Azar felt an adult who wasn't afraid of her, nearly overwhelmed her lifetime of control. It took all her focus to keep her powers from tearing the safehouse apart, and she knew she would have to go back over her emotions in nevermore later to accurately identify everything she had just felt. One thing she was certain of already, however, was that she was glad Blackfire had stolen that kiss.

Blackfire held her quietly for a few minutes, then spoke, amusement tinging her voice. "As it happens, I was preparing to lay low after my last mission anyway. Even if the food on this planet is disgusting, it seems the company may make up for it. I say we spend the next few months truly getting to know each other, then decide what comes next."

Raven nodded, then smiled as she realized a way she could show some of her gratitude for what Blackfire had just done. She wrapped her soul around them both and jumped through the void.

* * *

Blackfire's eyes widened in shock as the pleasant blackness engulfed them, then left them somewhere else altogether. They were on the outskirts of a ruined city. Peering deeper into the city, she could see it's center seemed to have been repaired.

"Welcome to Azarath" came the soft voice from right around her chest.

"And why are we here?" she asked curiously

A hint of smugness entered Raven's voice. "Any place in our universe is equally distant from Azarath, which means when I take us back it will be as easy for me to reappear on Tamaran as on earth. Let me cast a glamor on you, then we should be able to get you some food you'll actually enjoy."

Embarrassment entered Raven's voice then. "Though to be honest, I need a memory of the destination, so unless you want to end up somewhere near the palace, you'll need to let me see one of your memories once I've got this glamor ready."

Blackfire smiled "Sure, I know just where we should be able to get what we need."

Even as she felt a surge of happiness at her mate's thoughtfulness, she started to worry at a deeper level. While the kindness she was finding in Raven would be good in a mate, it might also cause problems. Tamaran was weak, and she wasn't going to be able to drag it up to the status of a true galactic power by being nice, and she had a duty to Tamaran as much as she did to Raven. She wondered how much of what she would end of doing she would have to, or even be able to, shield Raven from, because if Raven was as soft as she was starting to worry she might be, it probably would cause problems.

* * *

Sebastian Blood Smiled as the man finished his report.

"And you're sure all three of them are living in this monastery?"

"Absolutely."

"Well then, tell the team to prepare, we leave at once. Oh, and remind them to bring the jamming equipment, I don't want that traitorous bitch to have any idea what's happening until she receives our little package."

Blood grinned in vicious satisfaction, a little box with an eye an ear and a tooth should get the message across, though he still hadn't decided whether to include a piece of a teddy bear in it or not.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At one point in this chapter I refer to Melvin Azar, this is because in this story when Raven was adopting the kids, she decieded she'd use the name of the woman who was effectively her own adoptive mother, rather than that of the mother who couldn't stand her not because i'm suggesting Melvin was an actual relation of Azar.

Raven felt content as she flew back towards the tower. No one had seen through the glamor, and they had bought a good supply of Tamaranean ingredients. Blackfire had poked around Azarath for a little while before they had returned to earth. Once the ingredients had been stored Blackfire had asked her to take her to the forest a ways out from the city. Apparently, she intended to spend the day practicing and sunbathing and didn't want to risk running into one of the other Titans. Raven relaxed as she reached the tower and phased through a wall and straight into her room. After the emotional roller-coaster that the last few hours had been, all she wanted was to get some rest.

She froze as she saw the green bloodhound that was sleeping on the end of her bed, Beastboy knew the rules about entering her room. With an almost inaudible sigh, she extended a few tendrils of her power, apparently a reminder was in order. She infused the top blanket with her power and wrapped it tightly around him. She felt consciousness return to her teammate and then felt the pressure against her power as he tried to morph. She reinforced her power until, finally, the morph failed. She sighed then as she felt his instincts take over, telling him to shift into the largest, most menacing form he had, to confront the aperient threat. She simply held her spell in place as morph after morph failed. Eventually, she spoke.

"Garfield, I'm going to give you enough space to change into your human form, when you do you're going to tell me what the rule about entering my room is."

She felt his panic vanish the moment he heard her voice, and when she gave him a bit more room he obediently shifted back into his human shape.

"I know, nobody's allowed in your room without your express permission, but when I came to talk to you earlier, I smelt something. I think someone else's been in your room, and while I can't figure out who the scent belongs to, I don't think it's anyone friendly. I already sniffed for bombs, but they may have left something magical.

Raven sighed audibly and withdrew her power, she knew she was going to have to tell the team about Blackfire eventually, but now wasn't the time. Not only did she need more time to marshal her arguments and reassurances, but she was also simply too exhausted to handle it properly.

"I know, that's why I'm back so late. There was something of a magical mishap, and as a result, you may notice that same scent around from time to time. I'm working things out, but until I have, I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention this to the rest of the team."

"Sure, no problem. Anything I can do to help?"

"Not with this."

Raven watched as a dejected look spread across his face. She sighed internally, even though he was causing her trouble, as usual his heart was in the right place.

"I have been meaning to ask if you'd be up for coming with me on one of my trips to see the kids sometime soon, you know how much they enjoy it when you come."

The dejected look vanished, to be replaced with a wide smile.

"Sure, you know I love playing with your kids."

"Good, then I'll bring you the next time we both have a day off from training. By the way, what was it you wanted to talk to me about."

Beastboy blinked a few times, before seemingly remembering what it was that had originally brought him to her door.

"I've been thinking that it's about time I change my name from Beastboy to something a bit more mature, I was hoping you might have a few ideas."

Raven's lips curled up slightly, just hinting at a smile. Beastboy certainly had matured over the last few years, while he still told annoying jokes, at least he had learned when to tell them and when not to. They had even come to a quiet agreement, they'd trust her brain and his instincts, and never the reverse. Honestly, he'd matured enough that when she looked back at the old Beastboy, she started to wondered if the real Beastboy had been spirited away and replaced with a. Her lips quirked upwards even further as a name popped into her head.

"What about Changeling?"

"That's perfect." A wide grin spread across his face, and he took a step towards her, before clearly restraining himself.

"Now Beastboy, I'm tired, so leave before I turn you into something unpleasant."

Beastboy kept grinning and gave a happy little wave as he started for the door. Raven sighed and started for the bed, only to wince as Starfire began to bellow out the words of a Tamaranean song from somewhere in the tower.

"Wait, would you mind doing me a favor?"

"Sure, what?"

"Go tell Starfire that if she doesn't stop singing until I've fallen asleep, and that if she sings loudly enough to me up after that, I'm going to neuter Robin, got it?"

Beastboy's grin widely, and slightly evilly.

"Got it."

Once Beastboy left, she stripped and pulled on a nightgown, then slipped into bed. Just as her head hit the pillow, she heard the song brake off and felt a surge of amusement, mixed with a slight tinge of embarrassment and a sudden spike of fear in Robin's emotions. Apparently, not only had he been close enough to hear the threat but Beastboy must have nailed the delivery.

* * *

Blackfire brought her Gorvloc around in a one-handed slash. The traditional Tamaranean blade looked a lot like the couple of pictures she had seen of a Tarren saber. Of course, as far as she knew, no saber had ever been made with a monomolecular edge. While humans were at a point where they mostly used ranged weapons, most of the people she was likely to fight would have armor that would defeat any ranged weapon that didn't pack enough of a punch to breach a ship's or space stations hull. She'd yet to absorb enough sunlight to feel comfortable actually using starbolts or flight while she practiced, simply going through the motions instead. Finishing one form, she imagined letting the energy disperse, drawing her bead pistol as she moved seamlessly into another form. She moved through traditional Tamaranean martial arts katas, mixed with other forms she'd picked up in her travels. She didn't have the power reserves most of her kind did, so instead she focused on styles built around quick kills and crippling blows. All in all, she thought this focus had served her well, though it had left her at a disastrous disadvantage when she'd faced her sister.

Deliberately turning away from thoughts about her sister, she let her mind drift over her time with Raven. After their quick trip to Tamaran, she had asked if she could look around Azarath before returning to earth. While Raven had made it plain that the part she'd converted into a vault was off limits, she'd been happy to play tour guide for the rest of the ruined city. Raven's amusement had vanished, replaced with pain when they reached the square that Azar had faced Trigon in, and Blackfire had quickly rushed them through it. The tour had ended at a small house that sat beside a huge Temple. Apparently, it had been Azar's house, and the one Raven had grown up in. Raven had gone silent as they entered the house, apparently lost in her own memories.

Blackfire had been indignant when she found the bedroom she assumed to be Raven's, it was a tiny thing, more a cell really, with barely the room for a bed and a dresser. A couple of minutes later, however, she had stumbled across the other bedroom, a near mirror image of the first.

"Azar was a true ascetic" Raven had commented quietly. "Things just didn't matter to her, she cared about people and progress. While she certainly encouraged the pursuit of beauty, you probably noticed how many sculptured there were and the number of painting inside the houses, she herself had trouble truly appreciating any of it. For her, it was always seeing her followers creating beauty that pleased her, not the things they created."

Blackfire had nodded, she had met a couple of people like that, and it certainly sounded like the woman who had written _Thoughts_. She had continued to poke around for a while, not really expecting to find anything particularly interesting, but when she'd opened on of the closets, her jaw had dropped. Inside were several bars of gold and platinum, besides those were sacks, each filled with a different kind of gem. On the closet's shelf were led boxes, three of which had I shimmering field covering them.

"I thought you said Azar wasn't into material wealth" she had said shakily."

"She wasn't, Remember I rule several realities. While I suspect I'd get a rather unpleasant visit from the league if I started flooding the markets, having this small reserve on hand has been useful. From time to time I come across truly dangerous artifacts, and I can usually get my hands on it by simply making a generous enough offer. Believe me, if anyone knew what the sort if things I buy actually did, they'd sleep far better knowing there locked away in one of the safest vaults in existence."

Blackfire gestured at the led boxes covered by the shimmering fields.

"And those are?"

"Stasis wards covering boxes containing a rather unstable chemical mixture. After I bought a few artifacts, an individual actually approached me on his own about one he owned. He's done so several more times since, and he prefers to be paid with that chemical."

They had left soon after that. Once they had stored the food, she'd had Raven take her to the Clearing she was now practicing in. After a final few sequences, she stopped and went over to her pack. Fishing through it, she quickly found what she needed, a set of motion sensitive alarms. After spreading them out around the border of the clearing, she stretched out in its center and closed her eyes.

* * *

Raven growled as the whooping of the towers klaxon going off pulled her from sleep's grasp. She blushed slightly as she remembered the other grasp it had pulled her from, apparently star had started singing again at some point as, in her dream, Blackfire had not only hugging her again, this time she'd been singing to her as well. Yanking her nightgown off and pulling her outfit one was a matter of seconds, and she quickly teleported to the center of the meeting room, several feet above the floor. The only titan who had beaten her there was Robin, and he was looking at a small computer screen.

"Any chance it's Doctor Light?" the thought of being able to terrorize the person who'd woken her up, and of how quickly she'd be able to get back to bed was appealing .

"No, it looks like it's Mumbo."

"Wonderful."

While Mumbo wasn't a true threat, dealing with him would be time-consuming and tedious. As soon as the rest of the team had arrived and Robin had given them the details, she wrapped them all in her soul stuff, then teleported. The entire team, save for Starfire, shivered as she expelled them from her soul.

The battle started out normally, the rest of the team charged forward while she focused on warding off any actual spells he cast, as well as any other attacks she got the chance to block. After a few minutes, Mumbo got lucky. One of the giant animated cards that surrounded him managed to hit Starfire hard on the back of the head. The Tamaranean crumpled to the ground, only to be picked up by two of the cards and carried quickly back to Mumbo. He pointed his wand directly at her and opened his mouth, but Raven didn't hear what he said. Blood was pounding in her ears, and she could feel rage rising to the surface.

"How dare he? How dare he?" The question echoed through her head in Rage's booming voice. Just before her fury reached the point at which she went red-eyed, a bolt of purple energy flew from her hand. The bolt slammed into Mumbo's wand knocking it from his hand. The wand flew several feet, completely encased in the purple energy, before enough of the runes on it were burned away to cause the entire wand to explode, releasing all the magic stored in it. with the wand destroyed, all the cards collapsed and shrunk to the size of normal playing cards, while mumbo magical youth quickly faded.

Raven fought down the impulse to walk over and rip his throat out. She looked at her hands as Rage settled back down and saw a purple glow encasing them. The glow faded as her calm returned.

"Righteous fury." The thought played through her head as she realized what she must have done. Robin had rushed over, securing Mumbo and examining Star. Beastboy and Cyborg were staring at her, mouths agape.

"Was that a Starbolt?" Cyborg eventually asked.

"Perhaps a couple of non-sequiturs might be better than answering the question." Wisdom commented.

"Agreed." Raven thought back quickly before speaking.

"I sometimes wonder if you all actually forget that, among other things, I am a sorceress. Do you have any idea how many Energy bolt spells I know?"

The confusion on cyborgs face cleared, and he smiled. "Oh, well that was a good shot and better timing."

Raven just nodded at him, then walked to Starfire and Robin.

Robin looked up and gave her a worried smile "Good job. I don't think Star's seriously hurt, but."

Raven nodded as his voice trailed off. "But I'll take her straight to medical, just to be safe." Raven finish for him, then wrapped Starfire in her soul stuff and vanished.

* * *

Cyborg looked from where Raven had vanished from, to his other teammates and sighed.

"Think she forgot she teleported us here?"

Both Robin and Beastboy nodded.

"Guess once we've handed Mumbo over, we'll be walking to the bay and then taking the Beastboy express."

A smile spread across Beastboy's face, and he piped up "If you're expecting me to carry you both back to the tower, then we're stopping for pizza first, and one of you is buying."

* * *

Once she'd hooked Star up to the medical equipment and was certain she'd be fine by the time she woke up, Raven returned to her room. As soon as the door was closed, she levitated into the air, assuming her meditation pose.

"And what was that?" she mentally hissed, after a few minutes of calming meditation.

"A starbolt, obviously." Rage replied glibly.

"You know what I mean, why did you react so strongly to that? It's not like Star was in any real danger and you never reacted like that before?"

"As of this morning, Starfire is our kin. How does a two-bit magician like him get it into his head that he can get away with laying hands on the kin of a demon lord? You should have ripped his heart out, then put his head on a spike as an example to others."

"Look, he doesn't know she's our kin now, she doesn't even know for that matter."

Rage simply growled in reply.

"Ok, would you feel better if we put a nightmare curse on him?

"That's the furthest you'll go, isn't it?" Rage grumbled

"Yes."

"Then let's do this." Vicious anticipation filling Rages voice.

Raven smiled internally as she began to construct the curse. She had, after all, planned to cast one on him anyway. While the little campaign she had started waging to teach the villains of jump what the acceptable hours for them to commit crimes were seemed to be working for the most part, events like this one showed the lesson needed constant reinforcement.

Raven managed to get back to bed and sleep for a few more hours before getting up in the evening. As she took a shower, she was glad to feel Starfire's emotional presence up and about in the tower.

"let's leave early and take Blackfire on a date." Love cooed "Perhaps too nice restaurant where we can watch the sun set?"

"She's Tamaranean, she'd hate most of the foods that would be served at a restaurant." Wisdom Pointed out

"Then we should cook her something." Love countered, "Starfire enjoyed those pancakes we made."

"I'm not sure that wasn't a fluke." Raven thought at them, then she sighed and continued. "Still, it is a thought."

"I suspect Star would be overjoyed if we asked her to show us how to make a Tamaranean meal." Wisdom suggested.

Raven thought about it while she dried off and put her close on.

"Assuming Star's up for it, I think that's exactly what we'll do. Thank you, Wisdom."

"Of course, Mistress. In my own way, I do want this to work out just as much as love does."

Raven projected a feeling of gratitude to them as she went to look for the star. Starfire, it turned out, was sitting on the sofa, watching the tail end of a documentary on the making of hot dogs. A smile lit up her face as she saw Raven come in.

"Friend Raven, do you think we could convince the boys to have the overheated dogs for lunch tomorrow?"

Raven blinked in surprise, "You actually want to eat hotdogs after watching that?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yes, the process is most nostalgic. There are several similar foods on Tamaran, though more attention is paid to the quantity of insects included in the Tamaranean versions."

Raven tried to hide a shudder and pressed forward. "Speaking of Tamaranean food Star, I was wondering if you might show me how to make a Tamaranean dish or two."

Starfire actually rose several inches into the air before getting her joy under control.

"That would be most glorious Raven, not even boyfriend Robin has ever expressed an interest in learning Tamaranean cooking."

Star grabbed Silkie from the couch beside her and flew to the kitchen. Raven floated in after her and watched as Star started pulling things out of her fridge. She had been given her own fridge after some of her Tamaranean ingredients had escaped and eaten everything else in the fridge. Raven glanced at Silkie, who was sitting on the counter.

"Does Silkie need to be in here for this? I strongly doubt it's hygienic."

Starfire nodded vigorously.

"This is the day of my anniversary with my little bumgorf, I wish to spend as much time with her as possible."

Raven sighed in resignation and began to help Starfire remove ingredients from the fridge. Cooking with Starfire, it turned out, was actually a fairly pleasant task. Star caught Raven several times when she was about to make a mistake and spent the rest of the time chatting ideally to Raven and Silkie while cooking several dishes of her own. While she wouldn't have admitted it to star, Raven was actually focusing far more on the pleasant emotions Starfire was giving off, than to whatever it was talking about.

Once the food was done, Raven coated what she'd made in darkness and pulled it into her. Starfire blinked, staring at Raven.

"You are not going to eat of the food with me?"

"Sorry Star, but there are some things I need to do before I start tonight's patrol. But don't worry, I'm sure there'll be time to eat it tonight."

"Though" she added mentally, "I certainly won't be the one doing the eating.

Starfire smiled again. "Well, at least it is the pleasant knowledge that you will have something to eat while you patrol."

Raven nodded, then pulled her own body into her soul and began to fly towards town. As she flew over the bay, she noticed a green whale making its way to the tower with two riders on its back. She wondered ideally why her they had gone back to the city and why they were riding Beastboy back, but the questions were forgotten when she saw the date flash across the giant clock that sat on top of one of the cities taller buildings.

"This is the day of my anniversary with my little bumgorf."

The memory came back to her, along with another. If she made a quick run to the store and then to the safehouse, she'd have time to prepare and still be able to have a meal with Blackfire. She sighed in resignation, she'd feel ridicules, but hopefully it would help Blackfire feel a bit more at home.

* * *

When Blackfire woke up, the sun was still up, but it was definitely evening. She stretched then began to collect the motion sensors. As she finished something in her seemed to move. No, not something in her, she decided, something near her. She turned to look for the movement and stared in the direction she felt it was coming from. A couple of minutes later a bird that seemed to be made from congealed darkness flew into view. Landing in front of her, the bird shrunk down into itself, leaving Raven standing in front of her.

Raven smiled slightly as reached into a small black portal that appeared in front of her and began to remove things from it.

"Hungry? I have some Tamaranean food in here."

Blackfire began to smile back, then froze.

"Did my sister make it." She asked harshly

She relaxed as she felt the amusement coming from the sorceress.

"No, she supervised but I made it. I thought you'd probably prefer that."

"Thanks." While the reply was simply, she deliberately didn't suppress the gratitude she felt.

Raven's smile grew slightly wider, and she spread a sheet out on the ground. Once everything was laid out, Blackfire sat down with three different Tamaranean dishes spread out in front of her. Beside her, Raven sat down and opened a paper box with a pile of waffles sitting in it.

"So," Blackfire asked Ideally, "did you get to fight anyone interesting today?"

"No, Just Mumbo. Though I did find out that I can now throw starbolts. They're purple like yours by the way. And what did you do all day?"

Blackfire smiled slightly, the fact that the starbolts were purple made her happy for some reason.

"Practiced some and got a nap while sunbathing. I don't feel quite so uneasy about how little energy I have anymore. I also realized that you never finished answering my question."

"Question?" Raven replied, and Blackfire could feel the genuine confusion coming from the other woman.

"Yes, about who might want to kill you other than blood."

"Oh yes, the second one would be Zatanna. She certainly wants me dead, the only thing I'm uncertain of is whether she's started actively trying to kill me, or whether some villain simply figured out just how powerful I actually am and started to see me as a threat to their world domination plans."

"But you're certain someone is actively trying to kill you?"

Raven actually chuckled quietly, and Blackfire could feel the rye amusement coming off her.

"Fairly. Three months ago, I was on night patrol and someone shot me. From what I found out later, it was a supersonic round from a sniper rifle, fired from well outside my normal empathic range. I had absolutely no warning before the bullet went straight through my brain, and believe me, that is disorienting.

Blackfire's eye's widened in shock. "How in X'hal's name did you survive that"

She winced slightly as a twinge of pain shot through her head.

"Remember, I'm a half-demon, I possess this body as much as I live in it. My relationship with this body is close to what someone with a neural interface would have with their fighter or power armor. In so far as I have a real body, it's that shadow raven you saw earlier. Once the disorientation of suddenly going from human perceptions to demonic ones wore off, I simply fixed up the body and effectively started it up again. It wasn't even the most unpleasant thing that's ever happened to this body."

"What was then?"

Raven thought for a moment before answering. "I think that might have to be the time I had to let myself be drowned in a pool of mud. Waiting for a traitor to check your pulse before you can set about fixing your body and start making sure none of your other teammates actually die is definitely less than pleasant. Being used as a demonic portal comes a close second."

Blackfire's fists clenched. "What happened to the person who drowned you?" she asked in a dangerous tone.

"Got petrified a little while later. She was actually trying to save us at the time. A while after that my father came along and petrified the entire planet, when I undid that I also freed her. A couple of days later I tracked her down and paid back both debts. I sealed her memories and bound her powers for betraying us, then made sure she found a good family to take care of her because she had saved us in the end. Honestly, given what happened to her while she was with Slade, and some other things she experienced while she'd been on her own, taking away her memories might have been just as much of a kindness as finding her a family was."

Blackfire thought for a moment, then her fists unclenched and she nodded. "Seems fair. So, if you're really just piloting that body, does that mean things that effect you're mind, such as drugs, don't work on you."

Raven shook her head. "For most demons, their effect would be significantly lessened, I made it so they will have almost as strong an effect on me as they would on anyone else however."

"Why?" Worry clear in Blackfire's tone.

Raven looked confused for a moment, then Blackfire felt it as amusement practically bubbled off her.

"Oh, not for any reason like that. Cyborg and I worked together to make a drug that puts me into a deep sleep and suppresses my powers somewhat. I took it for a while after I killed my father, and then again, a few other times, when someone on the team almost died. It keeps me from tearing the tower apart during a nightmare and buys me the time to get my emotions back in balance."

They chatted happily for the rest of the meal and sat together as the sun set. After a few minutes of looking at the stars, Raven took Blackfire into her and flew back towards the safe house. Blackfire smiled as Raven flew.

"I really could get used to traveling this way."

She chuckled at the thought and ideally wondered how many other people could find this particular method of travel pleasant. As raven deposited her back on in the safe house, she blinked at a change. One wall, which had formerly been blank stone, now had a couple of curtains hanging from them. Her eyes widened slightly as raven let out a monotone cry of "Stupid curtains." And tore one of them apart with her power, then looked at her. Blackfire simply raised a single eyebrow.

"Didn't you notice? It's Gorb-Gorb."

Blackfire just raised her other eyebrow.

"The Tamaranean Festival of Berating Drapery?" Raven asked, and Blackfire could feel a mixture of dread and humiliation forming in the half-demon.

Blackfire simply shook her head.

"I'm going to strangle you sister." Raven muttered quietly, her face turning a bright red.

"You realize all that will do is stop her from talking don't you? Not that that's not a worthwhile achievement all on its own."

Raven just blushed a darker red. "I need to go on patrol." She said hurriedly, then vanished.

Blackfire waited for a few moments, making sure she truly was gone, then burst out laughing. Once she'd gotten her mirth under control, she picked up _Thought_ s from the table and, taking a seat, resumed read.

* * *

The three male titans were huddled together in an otherwise empty room. Robin looked from Beastboy to Cyborg, then back to Beastboy.

"Ok," he said quietly "So Raven threatens to neuter me, strands us in the city, then talks Star into cooking us all a Tamaranean meal so here's my question, which of us upset her this badly?"

Beastboy and Cyborg thought for a moment, then both of them shook their heads.

"Well, we need to figure this out, and then we need to come up with a proper apology.

The other two boys nodded in firm agreement, neither one of them wanted a repeat of the day that was just coming to an end.

* * *

Sebastian Blood watched as his men spread out around him and felt a familiar irritation. When he had been Brother Blood, first priest of the church of blood, his people had been uniformly dressed and armed, now the thugs he had to hire were armed with a motley collection of weapons, and there was absolutely no uniformity to their dress. Still, at least they obeyed orders fairly well.

"Remember," he shouted "The only survivors are to be the three kids, and when we leave, we torch the place."

There was a rumble of agreement, and the men who were carrying containers filled with gasoline nodded firmly.

He strode forwards and slammed the knocker against the monastery's door. It took almost a minute for the knock to be answered, but the moment a man in monk's robes opened the door, he shot him. Shoving the double doors wide, he strode into the monastery.

* * *

Melvin Azar dropped the book she had been reading to her brothers when she heard the gunshot. She had heard gunshots during the confrontation with the Brotherhood, and later, Raven had fired several different guns just so she'd be able to identify the sound. Timmy and Teether were both wide-eyed and looking in the direction of the shot.

"Bobby, find out what's going on. Timmy Teether, get over here and hold onto me." Melvin spoke as calmly as she could, pulling off the ring she always wore as Bobby left the room.

* * *

Blood stalked through the halls, shooting the couple monks he came across. While he walked he called on a couple of the demons Trigon had helped him to bind. While he wouldn't be able to use them when he fought the patricidal bitch, they would certainly come in handy here. The first one he called on had an affinity for air magic, and he used it to push the air apart in a sphere around him, while keeping the air inside of it fresh. The thin layer of vacuum should render the older boy harmless. He next called on a fire demon, ready for when he met the giant teddy bear.

Even with his preparations, he barely noticed the telltale signs of a concealment spell in time. It was hard to judge just how much damage the jet of fire he cast it the giant invisible teddy bear actually did, but he caught the scent of burning cloth, and the invisible teddy bear rushed back up the hallway it had just come down.

* * *

Melvin was horrified when she saw Bobby rush back into the room. Much of his belly was scorched and he was beating at a few parts of him that were still on fire. Bobby positioned directly in front of her and watched the door. Timmy took a couple of steps forward and to the side, then took a deep breath and stared at the door. The moment a man appeared in the door, he let out a scream. Melvin had noticed that as Timmy grew older, his screams were taking on a distinctly avian quality. Her eyes widened in shock as the attack did nothing to the man, it was the last confirmation she had needed that escape was their only option. In the same moment she raised her arm and hurled the crystal ring she held at the floor, the man hurled a jet of fire at them.

* * *

Bloods eyes widened as the girl hurled a ring at the floor. It shattered, and an all too familiar black bird emerged from it. As his jet of fire struck the bird, he gasped in pain, his link to the fire demon instantly shattered. He growled quietly as the bird swallowed up the three children and the teddy bear, before flying through a wall.

Closing his eyes, he took a couple of deep breaths, then turned and headed for the exit. While this hadn't gone exactly as he had planned, it would still work. He grinned evilly, no demon would allow someone who had tried to kill it's young to live. Even as a half-demon, he was certain the bitch wouldn't be able to let him live, and if she was going into this fight intending to kill him, then she wouldn't be able to bring her team. He had spent years gathering the material he had used to make the demon trap he'd constructed in Jump. When she faced him, she'd be alone, nearly powerless, and with three children she had to protect. His grin widened as he left and watched his men light the monastery on fire. Yes, this would definitely work.

* * *

Melvin wrapped an arm around each of her brothers as they huddled in the freezing blackness. Teether started to cry, and she tightened her grip on him, she knew just how scared he was of the dark.

"Close your eyes," she whispered softly "Close your eyes, and you won't be able to tell whether it's dark or not."

She closed her own eyes as an example, and she was fairly sure Timmy had done the same. She continued to hold them tight and prayed the trip wouldn't take too long.

* * *

The soul fragment Raven had sealed in the ring soured, flying as fast as it could, desperate to rejoin the rest of itself. As it approached the city that was its destination, it slowed down, confused. It almost felt like the rest of it was in two separate places. After a moment of contemplation, it simply soured to the nearest one. It flew to it, and pausing momentarily to deposit its passengers, it dove into its target. It felt itself pass through a link, but then, blessedly, it was back where it belonged.

* * *

Melvin was shivering as she, her brothers, and bobby were ejected from the dark place. She didn't even bother opening her eyes, feeling the cold dark pressure, that was their mother's aura. She hurled herself forward, wrapping her arms around a waist pressing her face into her mother's stomach. Her eyes suddenly shot open, whoever she was holding onto, it didn't feel like Raven. She saw Timmy and teether both clutching onto the person's legs. The person's orange legs. She looked up slowly to see an utterly flabbergasted expression on the face of a woman she had never seen before.


	5. Chapter 5

Blackfire closed her eyes and took a deep breath. In the last twenty-four hours she'd accidentally bound herself to one of her sister's friends, been knocked out by a cities worth of emotions, seen one of the most disgusting images she could imagine, opened up and told her life's story, found out the person she was bound to was an emotionally abused demon lord, had a romantic dinner with a very attractive woman in a forest clearing at sunset and, finally, found out her sister was making up Tamaranean holidays. Now, a shadow bird that looked suspiciously like her mate had flown through a wall, dropped three children and a scorched giant teddy bear in front of her, and flown into her, after which all three children had started hugging her.

"All in all," she thought to herself, "this has to be one of the three weirdest days of my life." Memories of her two short trips to Dorvric four popped into her head, "Ok, one of the five weirdest."

She reopened her eyes and looked down at the three children. While she felt nothing but intense relief from the two boys clutching at her legs, confused apprehension was emanating from the girl that had let go and stepped back.

"You're not Raven." The girl said accusingly.

She felt the shock that ran through the boys at the girl's announcement. Their eyes shot open, and they released her legs, retreating behind the girl.

"No, my name's Blackfire. And you are?"

"Melvin Azar." Then she turned around pointed at the boys, one after another. "He's Timmy, and he's Teether. They're my step-brothers."

* * *

 

Melvin looked up at the tall woman standing in front of her, she looked sort of like their Aunt Starfire. Still, she couldn't understand why the ring had brought them to her and not Raven.

"Azar?"

"It's the name our mother gave us when she adopted us." Timmy answered quickly.

Blackfire looked confused for a moment, then Melvin saw the moment realization dawned.

"Oh, the missing piece of her soul. So that means Raven's your mother?"

Melvin nodded and watched as the woman seemed to get lost in her own thoughts. After a few moments of silence Melvin barely caught the mumble of "Package deal, I suppose."

Blackfire's eyes suddenly refocused, and she looked straight at Melvin.

"Raven told me the ring she gave you was for emergencies, I assume something happened?"

Melvin relaxed slightly, if Raven had told this woman about the ring then she clearly trusted her.

"A man attacked the monastery we were staying in, there was gunfire and he was prepared for our abilities." She looked down, suddenly ashamed.

"We weren't able to do anything, we had to run."

"You're the eldest, aren't you?" Blackfire asked as she stepped close to Melvin.

Melvin nodded, but didn't look up. Blackfire lowered her head and whispered into Melvin's ear.

"Than you did your duty, and did it well. You kept your younger brothers safe and did what Raven would have wanted you to."

Blackfire straightened back up before she continued to speak. "You said it was a man so that rules out the mage. Was it Sebastian Blood?"

Melvin shook her head uncertainly, "I don't know, what does he look like?"

Blackfire suddenly laughed. "You know, I haven't the faintest idea, we'll need to ask Raven when she gets back. She'll probably stop by in the morning."

"Why isn't she here now?"

"She's on patrol, you know what she does right."

Melvin nodded dismissively, "Of course, but that's not what I mean. Why did the bird bring us to you and not her? How do you know Raven anyway, are you a new Titan?"

* * *

 

Blackfire winced internally, how was she supposed to answer that question? "Oh, I'm your mother's mate, and possibly her girlfriend. And no, in fact most of the Titans think of me as an enemy." She almost snorted, imagining the looks that would probably cause. Did the kids know even their mother was part demon, or that she was a lesbian? Blackfire paused at that thought, was Raven a lesbian? She'd heard it suggested a couple of times that all natural empaths were bi, but she wasn't sure how true that was. Either way, several of Raven's reactions had made it quite clear she wasn't straight, and she supposed it didn't really matter.

"Raven and I are linked magically. I would guess the link confused the bird and it just flew to me because I happened to be closer. And no, I'm not a Titan, though my little sister is." She managed to keep her voice even, even as she mentioned her sister.

Melvin's eye's widened. "You're Starfire's big sister, she never said she had a sister."

Blackfire smiled wryly at her. "We're not exactly close, but yes, I am her sister."

Mentioning Starfire had the intended effect, as she watched, the last bit of nervousness left the children. "Now, it's late and I suspect tomorrow's going to be a busy day. How about you all get some rest, I'll wake you when Raven gets here. Does the Teddy bear need to sleep?"

"You can see Bobby?"

The question caught Blackfire off guard and she chuckled. "Of course, he seems kind of hard to miss."

"Most people can't see him. Also." Her words were cut off as Teether let out let out a loud yawn.

"Yes, it's definitely time for bed. I slept earlier so I'll keep watch."

She felt the children's relief at her final words as she shepherded them to bed.

"This could be, inconvenient." The thought played through her head as she watched the three huddle together in a single bed. It wasn't that she'd never dealt with children before, but she was far from certain how much of what she's learned from the times she'd hired street urchins to act as lookouts and spies would actually apply here. Sighing, she returned to the living room and took a seat, then looked up at the giant teddy bear that stood in front of her.

"Guess it's just the two of us now Bobby. So, tell me, do you know how to play Grethnack?"

* * *

 

Raven flew through the earth, her body held in her soul self. If, or more accurately when, it came out that Blackfire had stayed in one of the team's safe houses, Robin would almost certainly insist they abandon and replace it. Still, until that time came, there was no reason to draw any more attention to the location than she could help. The night had been mostly quiet, though she found that she'd been overly optimistic when she's told Blackfire there link would only take a couple of hours to fully stabilize. While that would have been true between demons, it seemed that the differences between them had slowed the process down. Thankfully it had mostly been no more than a slight magical buzzing that she was able to mostly ignore, though something major had happened early in the night. With a slight turn, she phased through a familiar wall and into the living room.

For the second time in as many days, she froze in utter shock. As she watched, Blackfire leapt over Bobby, then kicked him in the knee while grabbing onto his back and pulling. As he collapsed backwards, Blackfire rolled between his legs and jumped to her feet, pointing a purple glowing fist at his head. After a couple of seconds where they both stayed perfectly still, Blackfire lowered her hand, the glow fading from it, and Bobby pushed himself back to his feet.

Her eyes lost focus as a wail pierced her head. Focusing inwards, she found the origin of the sound in the center of Fear's maze. The gray-cloaked aspect had her arms wrapped around her legs and was rocking back and forth as she whimpered. Raven could barely think past the massive surge of terror that Fear was sending her. She felt her legs weaken and knew she was seconds away imitating Fear, then she gasped in relief as the sensation lessened. Refocusing, she saw Knowledge levitating Fear into the air, a hand pressed to her forehead.

"Thank you." Raven thought at Knowledge.

Knowledge simply nodded, shifting herself and Fear out of the maze. With knowledge temporally forcing a detached and analytical mentality onto Fear, she was able to hear two new voices as they growled a single word in unison.

"Kill."

Changing her focus from Fear's maze to Brave's Dojo, she saw all eight of her Emoticlones standing together, Knowledge's hand still resting on Fear's forehead. Rage and Brave stood slightly apart from the rest, and while they had stopped with their one-word mantra, they were both still growling. Knowledge looked up, clearly aware of Raven's focus.

"Mistress, I have Fear under control and while both Rage and Brave want to kill someone they currently have the self-control to refrain from mindless violence. Please, rely on me to keep things relatively calm here and find out why our kids are here."

"And hurry."

Raven's eyes widened as she realized that last had come from Sloth. Refocusing, she saw Blackfire shake herself and realized just how strong the fear and rage she had just felt must have been.

"All four of them are here and unhurt." Blackfire's words were interrupted by a low growl.

"Don't listen to this overgrown rug," Blackfire continued, a grin spreading across her face. "He's just a little singed and being a baby about it. The kids are sleeping in the other room. Having them appear out nowhere was something of a surprise, though not as big a one as realizing you had kids. I'd heard that demons were born mature, but I guess I just didn't think about all that that could mean."

Raven felt a blush spread across her face as she started to splutter "We're not, I'm not, demons are born mentally developed, not physically. I met them when the Brotherhood of Evil was trying to kidnap them and." She paused as she felt the amusement oozing out of the older woman. "And they told you they were adopted didn't they."

"Yea. And now you can go see them."

"What?" Raven blinked in confusion.

"It's a lesson I learned when training to be a queen, but I think it applies to parents as well. When dealing with people who look up to you, don't show panic or uncertainty. Even from the brief amount of time I spent with them, I could tell how much you mean to them. If you had gone in there in a panic it would it could have scared them even more than the attack."

A brief image of a panicked Azar running up to a young Raven popped into her mind and she shuddered, then walked through the bedroom door. Timmy and teether were both sleeping soundly, but Melvin had already gotten out of bed. The moment she saw Raven walk through the door she threw herself at her and wrapped her arms around her. Raven returned the hug as she basked in the emotions pouring off her adopted daughter, relief, safety, joy, and most of all, love.

"Blackfire said you were all safe but didn't tell me what happened. You are all right, aren't you?"

Melvin nodded her head before speaking. "A man attacked the monastery, there was gunfire and he burned Bobby and somehow blocked Timmy's scream. I broke the ring the way you said, but it brought us here, not to you like you said it would."

Raven squeezed Melvin tightly. "Sorry, I didn't think of how my bond with Blackfire might affect the ring." Raven paused for a few seconds before continuing. "Melvin, would you let me look at your memories? I have to know who attacked you."

Once Melvin nodded, Raven placed her palm on Melvin's forehead and closed her eyes. It only took a few seconds to find the memory of the sudden gunshot. She listened to the gunfire and saw Bobby leave, then quickly return, beating at his burning coat, saw Timmy and Bobby position themselves, and saw Blood walk through the door. She felt the tips of her fingers lengthen and harden, forming talons as she saw the confrontation and as the fire rushed towards them, she threw her head back and roared, feeling her magic fill the cry.

* * *

 

In all her years of travel, Blackfire had never heard a sound like the one that came from the adjoining room. It took effort to stop shaking, open the door and look inside. Her mouth almost dropped open as she saw her mate. Her fingers had lengthened and formed talons, the teeth that were bared in a vicious snarl were jagged fangs, but the change that truly caught her attention were the eyes, there were four of them, glowing bright red with a dimmer purple outline. As she watched, transfixed, the two boys jumped out of bed, and joined their sister in wrapping their arms around Raven. Her eyes widened as she felt the emotions coming from the three, there was no hint of fear, instead, there was a feeling of safety and love.

After a moment Raven closed her four eyes reopened only her normal two. Her teeth shrunk, taking on their more standard appearance, though her fingers remained talons. A grimace spread briefly across Raven's face as a jingling noise came from her robe. She gently shooed the children back, then Blackfire's eyes opened wide in surprise as Raven drew her talons across her cheek, leaving five bleeding scratches. Withdrawing a small blue disc with a T emblazoned on the back, Raven moved to lean against a wall and flicked it open.

"Raven." A worried male voice came from the device.

"Yes Robin?"

Reports are flooding in from half the city about some sort of unearthly howl, do you have any idea what's happening?"

"Good choice of words, that was a demon's war cry."

"A Demon! We're on our way."

Blackfire saw the hint of a smug smile form on Raven's face. "No need, as of now I'm the only demon in the city."

She heard a relieved sigh come from the device. "That's a relief. I see it scratched your face, any other injuries?"

"No, but I don't really feel up to making it all the way back to the tower, I think I'll stay in a nearby safehouse for the day if you don't mind."

"Are you sure? I could send cyborg and the T car to pick you up."

"No, after what just happened, a little time away from the tower, regaining my composure would probably be for the best. I'll try to make it back for dinner, ok?"

"Ok, see you then."

Raven snapped the device closed and put it back in one of her robes pockets, then looked down at Melvin.

"I need to talk with Blackfire for a moment, would you mind making breakfast with your brothers?"

As Melvin nodded and the three kids left the room Raven sat down on the edge of the bed and Blackfire promptly joined her.

"So, was it Blood?"

"Yes," Raven's Voice was calm and cold as she spoke "He tried to incinerate them. I swear by Scath, the Demos council and Azar's memory, I'm going to tear his soul apart for this."

"Blackfire, this may well get messy, and my feud with blood far predates our bond, if you don't want to be a part of this."

Blackfire's laughter cut Raven off. "Messy? I'd bet that I've killed more people in a single day than any of your Gothamite villains have killed in their entire career. If things are going to get messy, that's all the more reason for me to stay."

Blackfire felt the sudden surge of worried curiosity from the woman sitting beside her.

"That's, that's not an exaggeration, is it."

"No," Blackfire paused, this would probably be one her best opportunity to expose Raven to the reality of who she had ended up bound to that she was going to get for some time. It took her another few moments to decide which of the qualifying day Raven would find most palatable, but then she smiled as she settled on one of her proudest days.

"I'm sure my sister's told you a bit about the Gordanians, at least enough to know that their expansionist, slave taking garbage, correct?"

After a nod from Raven, Blackfire continued. "Well, about two years ago they were preparing to subjugate the Velmock, a single system species somewhat more technologically advanced than humans, but with no metas and only a couple of truly powerful mages. The Gordanian's third fleet, the one specifically meant for conquest, had massed in the Emerin system. The system's main space station had a number of Tamaranean slaves on it and I disguised myself as one. I intended to slip in, hack their computers, steal information on the ships and officers of the fleet, load some viruses into their system, blow up whatever would slow their deployment down the most, then go to the Velmock and give them the information I stole. After all, the more the Velmock could hurt them, the longer it would be before they could turn their attention back to Tamaran."

"An unexpected opportunity fell into my lap however. While I was in their systems I learned they were going to deploy sooner than I had expected and that all Flag officers, ships captains, and executive officers were going to be on the General Grivling for a final briefing. The General Grivling was the fleet flagship, and one of the Gordanian's newest dreadnaughts, it had a complement of five thousand crew and fighter pilots, and another three thousand marines. I waited for the meeting, then planted an antimatter bomb on a shuttle returning to the ship. The bomb wouldn't have been enough to completely destroy the ship on its own, but it was enough to breach a magazine and cause the ships antimatter warheads to lose containment, and that did the rest. Of course, that's just my reconstruction of what happened from reports I got access to later, I was halfway to the edge of the solar influence by the time my bomb went off. I jumped to Velmeir and gave them the information about the fleet, as well as letting them know they would have a bit of time while the Gordanians pulled officers from their other two fleets."

"In addition to the eight thousand crew and marines, and the officers who were there for the briefing, an argument could made that I am responsible for every death caused by a missile that the General Grivling's point defense would have stopped, every ship lost because of miscommunication between officers who had no experience working together, as well as the one caused by every orbital defense that only had time to come online because of the delay I caused. I'm sorry Raven, but this something you should understand from the outset, I am the rightful queen of Tamaran, and as such, I will do whatever I must to ensure its safety."

"And Raven, aside from the fact the deaths of this ex-priest and whatever goons he's hired could probably vanish in a rounding error if you were to calculate the blood on my hands, I can feel how strong our bond is. Since the night before last we have been each other's responsibility, and if you truly have adopted those kids, then they're my responsibility as well.

* * *

 

Raven had started increasing the intensity of her empathic focus on Blackfire the moment the other woman had claimed to have a kill count to rival Gotham's craziest. She had continued to increase her focus until the memory of lying on a cold floor and twitching while looking up at a crystal and listening to Azar scream at one of her disciples slammed into her. It had been the only time she'd ever heard Azar shout, and the memory was enough to convince her that, even if the crystal had not been destroyed in Trigon's attack, she wouldn't have been able to bring herself to use it on Blackfire. She had weakened her empathic focus slightly and the memory had faded, leaving her able to focus on Blackfire's emotions, and watch her ideally twist the gold ring she wore.

While Blackfire had tried to tell the story in a matter of fact tone, she was able to tell how every aspect of the story actually made her feel. The hatred when she talked about the Gordanians, and the rage when she mentioned enslaved Tamaraneans had been expected but what she felt when the deaths of the crew were mentioned came as something of a surprise. While there had been no regret, what there had been was a feeling of somber acceptance and determination. It wasn't a feeling that carried over to the officers, when she talked about their deaths and the destruction of ships, she had felt positively gleeful.

Raven let the emotions flow through her and considered them. The certainty that Blackfire was neither a psychotic murderer, nor a Scath cursed nihilist, but just a woman who took her duty and responsibilities seriously came as a relief. She had killed people, but when it came down to it, so had Raven. She'd killed her father to protect her world, and she was going to kill Blood to protect her kids. And while she hadn't had to kill during her reformation of the church of blood, or while establishing her clan as a neutral power among the demons, she had to grudgingly admit that was thanks to her father's actions. He'd forced everyone who was high enough in the church to really understand everything she was changing to swear magically binding oaths to Scath, leaving them unable to oppose her changes. He'd also crushed several other clans, proving his strength, and that of his clan. Not only had her killing him not weakened her clan, but she had also proved that she was stronger than him, even before she took his powers for herself. Her clan was strong and everyone knew it, Tamaran on the other hand. She remembered Val-Yor dismissively calling Starfire a torq and finding out that other species viewed Tamaraneans as nothings. She knew full well that if her clan had been viewed that way, she wouldn't have been able to make it what it was now. She's negotiated from a position of strength, Blackfire wasn't. The fact was, she realized, if she'd been forced to work from the same position as Blackfire, she might well have ended up equally ruthless. She sighed as she accepted the reality of the situation, not only could she not blame Blackfire, she knew that with the amount of time she was spending with her, she would soon be able to easily look at things from her perspective. She's adapted to Azarath despite her demonic instincts, she'd adapted to earth despite her Azarathian upbringing, she'd adapt to this as well.

* * *

 

Blackfire smiled in relief as she felt Raven's settle into a feeling understanding and acceptance. She'd worried someone who'd been brought up by pacifists and had spent the last few years acting as a hero wouldn't be able to accept who she was, but with the feelings Raven was giving off after hearing that story, those fear were significantly diminished. She stood up and pulled the shorter woman into a hug.

"Besides," she said softly. "have you forgotten, I promised you, no matter what happens, you won't be along for it."

She felt Raven's sudden burst of happiness at her words and shared it as her mate nestled up against her more firmly.

* * *

 

Melvin smiled as she quietly backed away from the cracked open door. Raven had been teaching both her and Timmy how to meditate and one of the things she taught them was a series of mental exercises that left them in a placid, near emotionless state. Raven had meant for them to use them just before meditating, but Melvin had quickly learned that while in that mind frame, Raven had to be actively looking for her empathically to notice them. She's been curious about Blackfire, why had neither Starfire nor Raven mentioned her before, and, if she was Starfire's sister, why was it Raven she was spending time and not Starfire. She had calmed herself, slipped back and carefully looked through the barely open door. Having the first thing she heard be a claim that the strange woman had killed more people in a day than any Gothamite, had almost been enough to dispel her calm, but the more she listened to Blackfire's story, the more the alien came to reminded of the books Timmy always asked her to read to him. She had read her younger brothers countless books about cunning heroes who defeated and destroyed their enemies and of noble leaders who lead their people against evil empires, and Blackfire's story seemed like it could have come straight from one of them.

And then there had been the relief she had felt when, right after talking about what she was willing to do to anyone who threatened those she felt responsible for, she had said she had a responsibility to both Raven and her younger brothers. Raven had taken the three of them to parties at Titan's Tower, parties where most of the Titans, not just those of Titans West, had been present. With Raven's dislike for parties, they'd never stayed long, but it had been enough for her to see how the other Titans reacted to Raven. They'd jerk back if they suddenly realized she was close by, try to subtly avoid her and, if forced to interact with her, their eyes would fill with fear every time they looked at her. After that, while the minute the two had spent just looking at each other had confused her, watching Blackfire hug Raven, and had hearing what she'd said had been enough to cement the opinion she'd already been forming. She liked Blackfire.

* * *

 

Raven simply snuggled into Blackfire for a few moments, then her eyes widened.

"Alone, that explains it."

"Explains what?" Blackfire asked softly, not letting go.

"Why Blood attacked the kids. He knew I'd kill him for it, and that I wouldn't be able to do it in front of the rest of the Titans. He did it to isolate me."

Blackfire squeezed her a little bit tighter. "Well, that's not going to work now."

"No," Raven replied, reluctantly pulling herself out of her mates embrace and fishing through the pockets of her cloak. A plan was forming, and as it did a wicked smile spread across her face.

"In fact, if that's what he wants, then I'm going to do the exact opposite."

Blackfire's eyes widened, "You're not thinking of letting him live?"

"Oh no, he's going to die, and that does mean I would be able to involve most of Titans, but my best friend's up at Titans North, and she has a slightly less black and white view of the world than most heroes. If this is going to work I need to ask her for a favor."

Blackfire raised an eyebrow as Raven took her T-com out of a pocket, looked at it a moment then replaced it and took out a similar looking yellow device with an H emblazoned on it.

"While Robin's heart's in the right place, he has problems with the concept of privacy. It'd be shocked if he hasn't bugged the t-coms, and while he'd say it was for security, it annoying enough that both Cyborg and I acquired ones he doesn't know about."

She flipped it open and entered a number. After ringing for only a few seconds a face wearing a wide Cheshire grin appeared on the screen.

"Raven, has hell actually frozen over? You never call."

she blushed slightly, embarrassed. "You'd hate phones too, if you'd grown up an empath."

"Probably," Jinx shrugged, "but that just makes me all the more curious about why you called."

"What are you doing today?"

Jinx shrugged again. "I'm going out on patrol in a couple hours and Argent and I are planning to go out for dinner tonight. Why?

"Is your com still clean?"

Jinx's wide grin vanished, replaced by the serious look of the woman who'd lead the Hive's number one team for several years, and who had, outnumbered three to five, kicked the Titans out of their own tower. "Yea, it clean. Our fearless leader has a better understanding of what privacy is than yours does, and I go over it regularly just to be safe."

"Good. I have a favor to ask."

"Anything Raven, you know that."

"Does Shimmer still run your old team, and are they still based down in Azure?"

Jinx's eyes widened in alarm and Raven continued quickly. "Relax, I know they're family to you, I wouldn't be asking for your help if this was part of an operation targeting them. I just want you to arrange a meeting."

"I can talk her into that, but why?"

Raven took a deep breath and willed her teeth to keep their shape, even as her taloned fingers clenched. "Someone tried to kill the kids last night."

Jinx's lips drew back in a snarl. "Want me to come down there?"

"No. Even now you're still on thin ice with most of the Titans. Just setting up the meeting is more than enough."

"I'll set it up. But Raven, you know their thieves, not killers."

"I know. I also know that they're the only criminals you stayed in touch with. All I'll want Shimmer do is ask three other people to contact me. Oh, and reassure her this isn't just a favor to you, I'll pay her both for the meeting and for what I want her to do. She can pick the meeting place and the time, but the sooner, the better.

"Ok, for easy money like that, I can probably get you a meeting sometime today. But Raven, my offer to come down's open. If you're planning on hiring the sort of people it sounds like you are, you should have someone there to watch your back."

"Thank you, but no. If the rest of the Titans get wind of this I have places I can run to where they can't follow, you don't. Most villains see you as a traitor already, if you lose your place on this side of the fence."

Raven's voice trailed off, then she forced a small smile. "Well, let's just say I hope you keep this quiet, since if Argent finds out I got you to stick your neck out even this far, she's going to murder me. Besides, I've found someone to watch my back."

Jinx's eye's narrowed in interest. "Really? Anyone I know?"

"No, but let's have lunch when this is all over, I'll introduce you."

Jinx nodded and they said their goodbyes before Raven clicked the device closed and replaced it in its pocket. Looking up, she noticed Blackfire's raised eyebrow and felt her curiosity.

"That was Jinx, an ex-thief, and current Titan. She used to run one of the best teams down here in Jump, but then there was the Brotherhood incident. They were recruiting all the villains they could in their quest to destroy the Titans, and people they thought might be future Titans, and they weren't taking no for an answer. Jinx was always clever and she saw there were only two possible ends to the Brotherhood's quest. One possibility was that the Titans beat them, and after what they tried to do, they weren't going to end up someplace like Jump penitentiary. The other possibility was that they succeeded, in which case they would have just destroyed one of the League's branch organizations and the original seven would have come and paid them a visit, which again, would have resulted in capture, and a very secure prison cell. While her team had no choice but to join, she found one of the most easily manipulated titans, who also happened to be the one most likely to be able to escape no matter what happened, and attached herself to him. She intended to gain trust until she got an opportunity to free her team."

"Her plan went well at first, but then she ran into a problem, she found she liked being a Titan. Still, that didn't change the fact that her team had been her family for years and she wasn't just going to leave them frozen. She was very careful when she freed them, and she freed some of the other minor villains while she was at it to obscure the who her target had actually been. Robin and I were the ones who investigated the escape, she managed to avoid leaving any clue's that he could find, but she did leave magical residue that I was able to identify. Rather than tell Robin, I confronted her myself. She ended up letting me look into her mind. While she'd been unable to leave her team frozen, she was serious about her desire to be a Titan. As turning her in wouldn't have magically undone what she's done, I saw no reason to turn her in and turn a possible hero back into a villain. She moved up to Titans North and her old team moved down to Azure so they wouldn't end up facing each other. She and I have spent a lot of time together since, The Hive's magical training program was woefully limited, and while I filled the gaps for her, she taught me everything she could about probability manipulation, a field of magic she's truly gifted in."

As raven wound down, Blackfire nodded and started for the door, only to Pause as Raven called out.

"Wait, before we meet up with the kids, I have a favor to ask you too."

When Blackfire turned back around, she continued. "The kids lost just lost everything, and with how far away the monastery they lived in is, Blood won't have been able to arrive yet. I don't want the kids leaving this safehouse once he does so would you mind taking them out shopping after breakfast?"

"Sure. While I don't have that much experience with kids, as long as there old enough to need changing or grebnaxlorg I should manage. But where will you be?"

"I'm going to be taking a trip down to Azure."

* * *

 

Blackfire chuckled as she made herself a bowl of Ghorvalik, remembering when she's expected to be doing the next time she made the food. Sitting down at the table, she listened to the children chatter to each other as Raven slid a mug of tea over to her. As she waited for the Ghorvalik too cool, she savored the taste of the emotions coming from the three children who across from her. After a couple of minutes, Raven leaned over and whispered in her ear.

"Be careful, it's possible for an empath to get addicted to children, especially if they're fond of you. I was originally supposed to just escort the kids to a safe house and look where I ended up."

Blackfire grinned at the fond amusement she could hear in raven's voice, but before she could respond, she realized the older boy was trying to get her attention.

"Hey. Hey."

"Yes." She acknowledged, turning to him.

"You're an alien, right?"

"From your perspective, I suppose, though from mine you'd be the alien."

Timmy blinked a couple times, then just pressed on. "Well, if you're an alien, why's your name English?"

"It's not, Blackfire is the English translation of my name, Komand'r. Ko is a Tamaranean prefix that basically means fire of, or fire from. Mand'r generally means shadow, darkness or black, though archaically it specifically meant the darkness or void between the stars. Oh, and do you know what's really funny?"

"What?"

"My sister's trouble with English actually extends to mistranslating her own name. while Riand'r could be translated to star, it almost exclusively used to refer to Tamaran's own star, so it would be more accurate to translate it as Sunfire."

"Not that my sister's problem with learning alien languages ever made anyone see her as defective."

While she hadn't meant for her muttered final remark to be overheard, the sudden change in Raven's emotions told her it had been.

* * *

 

"So, it was friend Raven who saved me from the Mumbo?"

"Yea," Beastboy enthused, "It was super cool. He was in the middle of this big speech, and Raven just blew the wand right out of his hand. Show her Cy."

Nodding agreeably, Cyborg linked into the tower's computer system and linked his memory banks to the TV. As Starfire watched the end of the fight and saw Raven throw the purple bolt, she felt her hearts start to beat faster and her breathing accelerate. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to suppress the fear that bubbled up in her.

"No, no no no, it's just a coincidence, a spell that happens to look like Blackfire's." Her desperate thoughts broke off as she thought The Name. Memories she kept suppressed crashed into her consciousness, lying on the castle floor, crying, Blackfire standing over her. Being hungry and lost in a forest Blackfire had led her into, knowing she couldn't even take to the sky long enough to get her bearings because of the Vordrakes the soared above the forest canopy. Being dragged in chains to the Gordanian's shuttle. In desperation, she tried one of the exercises Raven insisted she do before they meditated together. She sighed in relief and tried another as the fear and the memories faded. Slowly she opened her eyes, seeing her friends staring at her.

"Is something wrong Start?"

Hearing Robin's voice banished the last of the fear and she smiled.

"Not at all Robin, I was just thinking I needed to thank Raven for saving me."

* * *

 

Pulling out her beeping communicator, Raven smiled slightly as she read the message and put it back in a pocket. She jumped to Azarath, staying just long enough to stuff a handful of diamonds into a cloth pouch, then jumped back to Earth, arriving in a park in Azure city. Levitating into the air, she scanned the street signs as she flew. It only took her a couple minutes to find the small café Jinx's message had told her Shimmer would meet her at.

Ordering a pot of herbal, she sat at a table and waited. Eventually she grabbed the paper that lay on the table, flipped through it, and began to methodically fill out the crossword. Half an hour later she'd finished the crossword and was playing a game of chess with knowledge when an emotional presence distinctly different from the other diners caught her attention, a mixed mas of nervousness and anticipation, with just a hint of disbelief.

"You know, you're not playing the game right." Shimmer muttered as she plopped into the seat across from Raven. "When you're meeting an enemy and they say come alone, you're supposed to bring backup and hide them nearby. If you want me to arrive on time, next time actually bring some backup and hide them somewhere obvious."

"I suppose using a pocket dimension tied to my shadow was cheating a bit."

Raven watched Shimmer's eyes flick from her shadow to her stoically impassive expression and back to her shadow.

"Was, that a joke?"

Raven's lips pulled up ever so slightly, "Let's hope we don't find out. Did Jinx tell you what I wanted?"

"She just said you wanted to be put in contact with a few people. So, who do you want to hire?"

* * *

 

Blackfire pushed the shopping cart through the department store and concentrated. Raven had spent a couple hours after breakfast teaching Blackfire to weaken her empathic sense, and even so, she still could barely stay focused with the mass of emotions that surrounded her. Desperate for something else to focus on, she looked down at the three kids walking beside her.

"So, have any of you learned to fight with anything other than your powers?"

She was actually surprised when Timmy nodded. "Well, not actually fighting, but I did learn how to use a bow back in the monastery. The monks would talk about some sort of spiritual Zen things that they thought went with it, but I just always loved archery."

That rang a faint bell at the back of her head, something about archery and vocal attacks, but it slipped away when she saw the display they were walking past. The entire display, as well as the surrounding shelves, were devoted to merchandise featuring the city's heroes. T-shirts posters and action figures lined the selves, and Blackfire stopped, looking over the merchandise.

She grinned down the kids, "So, exactly how dead do you think I'd be if I dressed you all in _I heart Raven_ T-shirts?"

The kids looked at each other, then all started to giggle as Blackfire picked up three shirts of the appropriate size, and with the message blazoned under a stylized picture of Raven, gearing out from under her hood.

"We don't tell Raven about these, we save them for the right moment. Agreed?"

Melvin nodded while the other two just kept giggling. After tossing the shirts in the cart, she continued to look around until she found another set of T-shirts. These ones were stacked in five piles, one for each hero, and each pile had a number of different shirts, each with a quote attributed to the appropriate hero. As she flipped through Raven's pile, she froze, then started laughing as she pulled the shirt out and tossed it in the cart as well.

"This one, however, I'm wearing home."

* * *

 

Raven looked at Shimmers wide eyes.

"I can put you in contact with X easily enough. But the other two, are you sure?"

"I'm sure. I've dealt with Red X before, but he was always the one to contact me. As for the other two, just convince them to call the number I gave you, I'll handle the rest."

Shimmer nodded slowly, "Well, if you're sure."

Raven nodded back and floated the pouch across the table. Looking inside, Shimmer's eyes widened, then a wide smile spread across her face and she scribbled a number on a piece of scrap paper.

"If you have another job, this is a number you can reach me at."

Raven nodded again, pocketing the number, then grinned internally as she let her shadow slowly rise up and engulf her before making the jump to Azarath.

* * *

 

Both of Blackfire's hands were full of bag handles as she rode the concealed elevator down. As the elevator binged and the doors opened, she saw raven click the yellow communicator shut.

"You know," Raven grumbled, looking at her knees. "I truly hate phone calls. For half of that call I was sure they were going to reject my offer, then they suddenly just agreed. It's just disconcerting not to be able to feel how people are responding to what I'm saying, it like."

Raven's words choked off as she looked up and the words covering Blackfire's chest.

"Evil beware, we have waffles."

* * *

 

Sabastian Blood disembarked from the plane with only two of his men. More would be arriving in small groups over the course of the next day, some of his men were even stopping on route to hire extra hands for this final part of his plan.

"Soon." He thought to himself "Soon this'll all be over. Soon she'll be dead, and then, at least, I'll be able to string two thoughts together without the overwhelming need to kill her intruding."

* * *

 

A dark-skinned woman shifted her bulk as she watched Blood through the airport's security cameras. She fervently hoped whatever the crazy ex-priest had planned would work. Her sniper had made a perfect shot, but it had apparently barely even phased Raven. Her people were working on some new ideas, but she hoped that someone as thoroughly familiar with demons as Blood was, knew of a safe way to kill one. Seeing the young hero get up after taking a bullet to the brain had, after all, conclusively proved one thing. She was simply too dangerous to let run free.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the are two things worth noting. First, I've never read a cannon story that had Shimmer in it, so if she has a trademark mannerism I've missed, I'm sorry and I'll be happy to rewrite her part if you tell me about it.  
> Second, I've just released the first chapter of a new story, A Witch's Raven. it's obviously also a TT Raven story and if you've liked my writing or just like Raven femslash, I'd enjoy hearing your opinion of it.


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